UC-NRLF 


B    3   b53    Ibfl 


REVEREND  JOHN  TUCKE 


1702-1773 


F 


_j 


Underneath 

ARE  THE  Remains  of  the 

REV.   JOHN   TUCKE,   A.  M. 

He  graduated  at  Harvard 

College  A.  D.  1723,  was  ordained 

HERE  July  26,  1732, 

AND   died   late   IN    AUGUST,    1773, 

Aet.  71. 

He  was  affable  and  polite  in  his 

Manner,  amiable  in  his  disposition, 

OF  GREAT  Piety  and  Integrity, 

given  to  hospitality, 

Diligent  and  faithful  in  his 

pastoral  office,  well  learned 

in  History  and  Geography  as 

WELL   AS   general   SCIENCE,    AND   A 

careful  Physician  both  to  the 

Bodies  and  the  Souls 

OF  HIS  People. 


Erected  1800  in  memory  of  the  Just. 


The  inscription  above  is  taken  from 
the  sandstone  slab  placed  over  the 

GRAVE   OF   THE    ReV.    JoHN   TuCKE 

by  Dudley  A.  Tyng  of  Newburyport,  Mass. 


In  1914  A  kinsman, 
EDWARD     TUCK, 

RENEWED    IN    PERMANENT   FORM 
this    MEMORIAL. 


DEDICATION 

OF 
A    MEMORIAL   TO 

REVEREND  JOHN  TUCKE 

1702-1773 


STAR  ISLAND  ISLES  OF  SHOALS 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE 

JULY  29,  1914 


With  an  Address  on  Captain  John  Smith 
BY  Justin  Harvey  Smith 


Erected  by  Edward  Tuck 


dedicated  by  the 
New  Hampshire  Historical  Society 


t^,V 


Edited  by 

Otis  Grant  Hammond 

Superintendent 


Published  by  the  Society 
1914 


MONUMENT 

IN  MEMORY  OF 

REVEREND  JOHN  TUCKE 

/^N  MARCH  27,  1914,  at  a  special  meeting  of  the 
^-^  Trustees  of  the  New  Hampshire  Historical  Society, 
Mr.  Benjamin  A.  Kimball  announced  the  intention  of 
Mr.  Edward  Tuck  to  build  a  permanent  memorial  over 
the  grave  of  Rev.  John  Tucke  at  Star  Island,  Isles  of 
Shoals.  Mr.  Kimball  had  previously  directed  Mr. 
Timothy  P.  Sullivan  of  Concord,  an  authority  in  monu- 
mental art  and  construction,  to  investigate  the  whole 
subject,  consider  the  location,  and  recommend  a  plan 
for  the  proposed  memorial.  The  result  is  shown  in  the 
granite  obelisk,  dedicated  July  29,  1914,  whose  picture 
forms  the  frontispiece  of  this  volume.  The  design, 
construction,  and  erection  of  the  monument  were  en- 
trusted to  Mr.  Sullivan. 

At  this  meeting  Mr.  Kimball  further  suggested,  in 
accordance  with  Mr.  Tuck's  wishes,  that  the  New 
Hampshire  Historical  Society  secure  the  site  of  the 
monument  in  its  own  name,  dedicate,  and  care  for  it 
forever.  The  Trustees  accepted  and  carried  out  these 
recommendations.  Mr.  Kimball  stated  that  it  was  the 
wish  of  Mr.  Tuck  that  the  dedication  ceremonies  should 
be  conducted  by  the  Society,  and  desired  the  Trustees 
to  take  action  to  that  end  by  the  appointment  of  the 
necessary  committees  or  agents. 

On  motion  of  Judge  Corning  it  was  voted  that  the 
President    appoint    a  committee  on  arrangements,   to 


^i)4764 


make  all  necessary  plans  for  the  dedication  of  this  monu- 
ment, and  an  executive  committee,  whose  duty  should 
be  to  carry  into  effect  the  plans  of  the  committee  on 
arrangements. 

The  President  appointed  the  following  committees 
in  accordance  with  the  preceding  vote: 

Committee  on  Arrangements. 

Benjamin  A.  Kimball,  Concord;  Frank  N.  Parsons, 
Franklin;  Harry  S.  Holbrook,  Manchester;  Fred  W. 
Estabrook,  Nashua;  Elisha  R.  Brown,  Dover;  Henry 
W.  Stevens,  Concord. 

Executive  Committee. 

Alfred  F.  Howard,  Portsmouth;  Wallace  Hackett, 
Portsmouth;  Otis  G.  Hammond,  Concord;  Timothy  P. 
Sullivan,  Concord. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  John  Dowst  it  was  voted  that  the 
committee  of  arrangements  be  vested  with  full  power  to 
make  and  execute  all  necessary  plans,  in  behalf  of  the 
New  Hampshire  Historical  Society,  for  the  dedication 
of  the  monument.  This  committee  reported  progress 
in  the  form  of  a  program  of  exercises  for  the  dedication 
of  the  monument  on  July  29,  1914,  which  report  was 
accepted  and  approved,  subject  to  change  at  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  committee. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Clarence  E.  Carr  it  was  voted  that 
the  executive  committee  be  authorized  and  directed  to 
carry  out,  in  the  fullest  detail  and  in  the  best  possible 
manner,  all  such  plans  for  the  dedication  as  should  be 
made  by  the  committee  on  arrangements. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Kimball  it  was  voted  that  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  dedication  be  edited  and  published  by  the 
Secretary,  Otis  G.  Hammond,  and  that  a  copy  be  given 
to  each  member  of  the  Society. 


To  understand  the  chain  of  events  that  led  to  the 
building  of  the  Tucke  memorial  it  is  necessary  to  go 
back  a  year  or  more.  Dr.  Joseph  W.  Warren,  an  accom- 
plished antiquarian,  during  his  summer  visits  to  Star 
Island,  had  noticed  the  disintegration  of  the  red  sand- 
stone slab  covering  the  remains  of  the  Rev.  John  Tucke, 
who  died  in  1773.  The  slab  had  been  placed  over  the 
grave  in  1800  by  Dudley  A.  Tyng  of  Newburyport, 
Massachusetts.  Time  and  the  elements  had  made  the 
inscription  almost  illegible. 

On  September  12,  1913,  Mr.  Sullivan  visited  the 
Shoals  to  examine  conditions.  On  January  27,  1914, 
Charles  A.  Hazlett,  president  of  the  Piscataqua  Savings 
Bank  of  Portsmouth,  and  a  devoted  student  of  local 
history,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Sullivan,  visited  Star 
Island,  and  measured  a  circle  sixty  feet  in  diameter, 
with  the  grave  for  its  center.  This  plot  was  subse- 
quently deeded  to  the  New  Hampshire  Historical  Society 
by  the  Piscataqua  Savings  Bank,  the  owner  of  Star 
Island.  On  March  11,  1914,  a  contract  was  made  with 
the  Pigeon  Hill  Granite  Company  of  Rockport,  Massa- 
chusetts, for  a  monument  in  the  form  of  an  obelisk,  to 
be  constructed  in  conformity  to  the  following  specifica- 
tions: 

Specifications  For  A  Proposed  Granite  Monument  To 
The  Reverend  John  Tucke,  To  Be  Placed  Over  His 
Remains  In  The  Little  Cemetery  At  Star  Island, 
One  of  The  Isles  of  Shoals,  Off  Portsmouth  Harbor. 

The  base  to  be  in  three  pieces  as  shown.  The  plinth  to  be 
in  two  pieces  as  shown.  The  obelisk  to  be  in  pieces  as  shown. 
The  monument  to  be  of  rock-face  finish  or  partly  scabbled,  with 
a  three-inch  margin  on  all  angles,  of  eight-cut  work. 

The  faces  of  three  pieces  as  shown  to  be  finished  to  a  fine 
rubbed  surface  for  the  inscription.  If  the  surface  of  the  three 
stones  is  not  large  enough  for  the  inscription,  part  of  one  side 
or  the  whole  of  the  fourth  stone  must  be  rubbed  fine. 


The  letters  will  number  about  five  hundred,  and  must  be 
very  large  and  deeply  sunk.  A  model  will  be  furnished  show- 
ing a  portion  of  the  lettering,  giving  the  character  and  sinkage 
and  size  of  the  letters  appropriate  for  such  monument. 

The  remains  of  the  Reverend  John  Tucke  (which  have  lain 
there  since  1773)  to  be  placed  in  a  vault  of  cement  concrete  in 
the  lower  part  of  the  foundation,  with  the  present  sandstone 
slab  over  the  grave  placed  over  the  vault,  and  left  so  that  the 
weight  overhead  will  not  bear  on  any  part  of  the  recumbent 
slab. 

All  the  loose  stones  and  earth  in  connection  with  the  present 
grave  are  to  be  taken  out,  and  the  new  foundation  started  on 
solid  rock.  The  foundation  to  be  made  of  stone  found  on  the 
island,  and  set  with  the  best  Portland  cement.  The  top  foun- 
dation stones  coming  in  contact  with  the  monument  to  be  of 
rectangular,  large  size  blocks  of  granite,  all  to  be  laid  in  the 
best  cement  mortar,  and  all  joints  and  interstices  in  the  entire 
foundation  to  be  grouted  with  best  Portland  cement  at  every 
course.  The  top  beds  of  all  stone  to  be  made  fair,  pene-ham- 
mered  work,  so  that  no  water  can  run  into  the  beds  from  the 
bed  joints,  and  the  bottom  beds  made  with  a  good  bearing  all 
over. 

Each  stone  of  the  obelisk  will  have  two  dowels  inserted  in 
its  top  bed,  and  made  secure  with  molten  lead,  so  as  to  receive 
the  upper  stone,  having  holes  cut  to  receive  the  dowels.  The 
dowels  to  be  of  gun  metal,  two  and  a  half  inches  in  diameter 
and  six  inches  in  length,  to  reach  into  each  stone  three  inches, 
and  to  be  placed  where  directed . 

The  vertical  joints  on  washes  of  base  and  plinth  to  be  run 
and  filled  with  molten  lead.  The  under  beds  of  all  stones  to 
have  a  perfect  bearing,  to  get  the  weight  distributed  equally. 

The  whole,  as  specified,  to  be  set  up  in  place  at  the  Isles  of 
Shoals  to  the  satisfaction  of  Timothy  P.  Sullivan  of  Concord, 
New  Hampshire,  or  his  representative;  the  time  of  completion 
to  be  not  later  than  August  i,  19 14. 

Signed:  B.  A.  Kimball,  for  Edward  Tuck. 

Pigeon  Hill  Granite  Company, 

By  Edgar  Knowlton,  Assistant  Treasurer. 


During  the  spring  of  1914  the  work  of  construction 
proceeded  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  Sullivan. 
No  expense  was  spared  to  make  the  monument  perfect, 
both  in  material  and  workmanship.  Each  of  the  large 
blocks  fitted  accurately,  and  was  put  in  place  without 
the  least  accident  under  the  direction  of  Edgar  Knowl- 
ton,  superintendent  of  the  company. 

The  monument  is  ten  feet  square  at  the  base,  and 
forty-six  feet,  six  inches,  in  height.  The  inscription, 
containing  about  six  hundred  letters,  square  sunk  one 
quarter  of  an  inch,  in  smooth  surface  finely  rubbed, 
occupies  thirteen  feet  vertically  of  one  side  of  the  shaft. 
The  obelisk  is  in  large  blocks,  and  is  designed  after  the 
Egyptian  dimensions  established  as  a  standard  thousands 
of  years  ago. 

The  foundation  is  of  granite  blocks  from  the  Pigeon 
Hill  Granite  Company,  Rockport,  Massachusetts,  com- 
bined with  others  suitable,  found  near  the  site.  All 
are  compactly  laid  in  Portland  cement  mortar.  Twenty 
barrels  of  the  mixture  were  required  for  this  work. 
The  foundation  is  laid  on  the  solid  ledge,  and  is  thirteen 
feet  square  on  the  ledge  and  six  feet  in  height  to  the 
bottom  of  the  first  base  stone.  About  one  foot  and  six 
inches  from  the  lower  part  of  the  foundation  is  a  vault, 
formed  for  a  casket  to  contain  the  remains  of  the  Rev. 
John  Tucke.  The  casket  was  imbedded  in  a  solid  mass 
of  cement. 

The  original  slab  of  red  sandstone  was  laid  on  the 
smooth  concrete  surface  of  the  vault,  with  its  inscription 
facing  the  east,  in  almost  the  same  position  as  over  the 
old  grave.  On  the  end  of  the  old  slab  were  found,  cut 
in  small  letters,  the  initials  "T.  N.  B.,"  which  were 
probably  those  of  the  stone-cutter  who  executed  the 
lettering  one  hundred  and  fourteen  years  before. 

On  the  forenoon  of  May  26,   1914,  the  grave  of  the 


8 


Rev.  John  Tucke  was  opened,  and  his  remains  exhumed 
and  placed  in  the  casket.  The  skull  and  the  large 
bones  of  the  body  were  in  as  good  a  state  of  preservation 
as  might  be  expected  after  a  lapse  of  one  hundred  and 
forty  years;  but  when  moved  by  hand  or  trowel  they 
crumbled  into  bits.  The  exhumation  was  made  under 
the  direction  of  Mr.  Sullivan,  assisted  by  three  men  from 
the  constructing  force. 

Although  the  Tucke  memorial  stands  in  practically 
the  only  place  on  the  island  where  interments  could  be 
made,  the  excavation,  which  went  down  to  the  granite 
ledge,  disturbed  little  except  boulders  and  sand.  Tradi- 
tion says  that  many  of  the  early  inhabitants  of  Star 
Island  lie  interred  in  this  area;  but  the  ends  of  two 
graves  only  were  encountered,  and  these  were  in  no  way 
disturbed. 

Considerable  machinery  was  used  in  setting  up  the 
monument,  a  task  which  required  much  time  and  skill. 
Everything  had  to  be  transported  from  the  mainland. 
The  blocks  of  stone  weighed  from  nine  to  eleven  tons 
each.  Eight  horses  could  not  haul  them  over  the  rough 
ledges,  and  ropes,  pulleys,  and  an  engine  had  to  be 
used.  Three  weeks  were  required  for  the  hauling  and 
setting  of  the  stones,  and  another  week  was  needed  for 
the  grading  and  finishing.  All  the  machinery  and 
material  was  transported  in  the  Pigeon  Hill  Company's 
boat,  and  an  extra  trip  was  made  with  a  load  of  soil  and 
turf  to  grade  the  circular  lot. 

Wednesday,  July  29,  was  appointed  as  the  day  for 
dedication.  About  five  weeks  previously  invitations 
were  sent  to  the  members  of  the  Society  by  the  Secre- 
tary, Otis  G.  Hammond,  Superintendent  of  the  library. 
It  was  announced  that  transportation  from  Portsmouth 
wharf  and  return,  and  tickets  to  the  luncheon  at  the 
Oceanic  Hotel  would  be  provided  for  all  those  who  sig- 
nified their  intention  of  being  present. 


9 

Members  and  friends  to  the  number  of  two  hundred 
and  thirty-eight  responded  to  this  generous  invitation. 
It  was  a  representative  and  distinguished  company  of 
men  and  women,  not  only  from  New  Hampshire,  but 
from  Maine  and  Massachusetts,  and  some  from  more 
distant  points.  A  hundred  went  from  Concord,  and  this 
number  received  constant  accessions  from  Manchester 
and  other  points  on  the  road.  Many  people  motored  in 
from  the  neighboring  beaches. 

It  was  a  beautiful  day,  and  a  fresh  breeze  blew  all  the 
clouds  inland.  The  steamer  Nassau  from  Boston, 
specially  chartered  for  the  occasion,  left  Jones's  wharf 
at  ten  o'clock,  making  the  trip  in  an  hour.  Arriving 
at  Star  Island  the  company  proceeded  to  the  monu- 
ment, which  stands  a  short  distance  southeast  of  the 
quaint  little  stone  church  where  candle-light  services  are 
still  held  as  in  days  of  yore.  Everyone  was  impressed 
by  the  dignity  and  beauty  of  the  obelisk,  which  stands 
forty-six  and  one-half  feet  high,  and  can  be  seen  from 
ten  miles  out  at  sea.  The  shaft  tapers  in  the  same  pro- 
portions as  the  monument  at  Bunker  Hill. 

After  the  dedicatory  exercises,  which  are  printed  in 
full  on  subsequent  pages,  the  company  proceeded  to  a 
near-by  eminence,  directly  overlooking  the  sea,  where  a 
bronze  tablet  was  unveiled  to  the  memory  of  Captain 
John  Smith,  the  discoverer  of  these  Isles  three  hundred 
years  ago.  The  exercises  at  this  monument  were  under 
the  direction  of  the  New  Hampshire  Society  of  Colonial 
Wars,  most  of  whose  members  also  belong  to  the  His- 
torical Society.  The  day  was  made  doubly  interesting 
by  the  two  events  so  nearly  alike  in  character. 

Adjournment  was  then  taken  to  the  convention  hall 
of  the  Oceanic  hotel,  where  an  interesting  and  scholarly 
address  on  Rev.  John  Tucke  was  delivered  by  Rev. 
Alfred  Gooding  of  Portsmouth.     This  was  followed  by 


10 


an  able  paper  on  Captain  John  Smith  by  Justin  Harvey 
Smith  of  Boston,  Governor  of  the  New  Hampshire 
Society  of  Colonial  Wars. 

At  two  o'clock  a  luncheon  was  served  in  the  dining- 
room,  which  was  followed  by  a  brilliant  program  of 
after-dinner  speaking,  with  Mr.  Wallace  Hackett  of 
Portsmouth  as  toastmaster.  The  original  announce- 
ment was  somewhat  changed  because  of  the  unavoid- 
able absence  of  Gov.  William  T.  Haines  of  Maine  and 
President  Lowell  of  Harvard  University.  Gen.  Jona- 
than Prince  Cilley  of  Rockland,  Maine,  occupied  the 
absent  Governor's  seat  at  table,  and  Harvard  University 
was  ably  represented  by  Prof.  Tufts  of  Phillips  Exeter 
Academy. 

An  interesting  feature  of  the  dinner  was  the  presence 
of  three  lineal  descendants  of  the  Rev.  John  Tucke. 
These  were  Rev.  William  Albert  Rand  of  South  Sea- 
brook,  New  Hampshire,  his  only  child,  Mrs.  Helen 
Paul  Dcmpsey,  wife  of  Edward  F.  Dempsey  of  Salis- 
bury, Massachusetts,  and  his  only  grandchild,  Helen 
Frances  Dempsey,  aged  nineteen  years.  Rev.  W.  A. 
Rand  is  the  grandson  of  Mary  Tuck  Rand  of  Rye,  New 
Hampshire,  whose  father.  Rev.  John  Tuck  of  Epsom, 
New  Hampshire,  was  the  youngest  child  of  Rev.  John 
Tucke  of  the  Shoals.  Rev.  W.  A.  Rand  was  born  at 
Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  August  30,  1842,  was  a 
corporal  in  Company  K,  i6th  N.  H.  Vols.,  during  the  Civil 
War,  and  was  installed  as  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  South  Seabrook,  January  2"!,  1867,  being 
now  in  the  forty-eighth  year  of  his  ministry.  There 
were  also  present  several  who  could  prove  their  descent 
from  Jonathan  Tucke,  elder  brother  of  the  Rev.  John 
Tucke.  These  were  George  Oliver  Tuck,  D.D.S.,  of 
Gloucester,  Massachusetts,  his  son,  Albert  Everett  Tuck, 
D.D.S.,  Rockport,  Massachusetts,  and  the  latter's  twin 


II 


sons,  born  January  7,  1904,  George  Loring  Tuck  and 
Walter  Flint  Tuck.  These  boys  were  probably  the 
youngest  persons  attending  the  banquet.  Their  grand- 
father, Dr.  G.  O.  Tuck,  is  fifth  in  descent  from  Jonathan 
Tucke. 

Mrs.  Ellen  Tuck  Stevens  of  Concord,  who  was  present 
with  her  husband,  Henry  W.  Stevens,  one  of  the  Trustees 
of  the  Society,  is  a  niece  of  Edward  Tuck,  the  giver  of 
the  memorial,  and  is  also  fifth  in  descent  from  Jonathan 
Tucke. 

The  return  trip  was  made  on  the  steamer  Nassau, 
which  left  Star  Island  at  four  o'clock.  Every  arrange- 
ment for  the  dedication  was  perfectly  carried  out,  and 
it  was  the  general  opinion  of  those  privileged  to  be 
present  that  the  occasion  was  one  of  the  most  interesting 
and  important  ever  conducted  by  the  New  Hampshire 
Historical  Society. 


DEDICATORY  EXERCISES 
Star  Island,  July  29,  1914. 


Invocation    by   Rev.  Samuel  Howard   Dana,   D.D. 

A  LMIGHTY  GOD,  our  Heavenly  Father,  who  in  Thy 
■^^*'  loving  kindness  hath  brought  us  unto  this  day  and 
this  place  and  this  service,  give  unto  us  Thy  benediction 
as  we  gather  here,  and  let  the  words  we  speak  and  the 
deeds  we  do  meet  with  Thine  approval.  We  thank  Thee 
for  the  holy  men  of  old,  who  went  up  on  the  heights 
and  looked  in  the  face  of  God,  and  gave  their  revelation 
to  others,  and  for  those  who  came  afterwards  and  went 
out  into  the  wilderness  and  gave  of  their  knowledge  to 
men.  Especially  this  day  do  we  thank  Thee  for  him 
who  came  to  this  island,  who  looked  into  the  face  of  the 
Heavenly  Father,  and  who  here  served  his  Lord  and 
Master,  and  taught  others  by  his  life,  as  well  as  by  his 
words,  of  the  Good  Shepherd;  who  was  himself  a  good 
shepherd  and  a  good  physician,  caring  for  the  souls  and 
for  the  bodies  of  his  fellowmen,  a  man  who  "did  justice 
and  loved  mercy,  and  walked  humbly  with  his  God." 

And  now  we  would  consecrate  this  place  and  this  mon- 
ument to  him  and  to  his  memory,  to  what  he  was,  to 
what  he  did,  to  the  character  that  was  in  him;  and  we 
ask  that  this  place  and  monument  may  ever  be  held 
sacred  to  the  memory  of  that  servant  of  God  and  friend 
of  man,  and  to  all  those  who  lead  lives  of  service  for  their 
fellowmen,  knowing  that  they  can  serve  God  only  as 
they  serve  men.     In  Christ's  name,  Amen. 


14 

Presentation  to  the  Society  of  the  Land  Upon 
Which  the  Monument  Stands  by  Mr.  Charles 
Albert  Hazlett,  Representing  the  Piscataqua 
Savings  Bank. 

By  request  of  the  owners  of  Star  Island,  I  have  the 
pleasure  of  presenting  to  the  New  Hampshire  Historical 
Society  this  deed  of  a  circular  tract  of  this  island,  sixty 
feet  in  diameter,  containing  the  graves  of  Rev.  John 
Tucke  and  Rev.  Josiah  Stevens. 


Acceptance  by  Mr.  Frank  Sherwin  Streeter, 
President. 

In  the  name  and  on  behalf  of  the  New  Hampshire 
Historical  Society  this  deed  is  accepted,  with  high  appre- 
ciation of  the  generous  public  spirit  which  inspires  the 
donor  in  making  this  gift. 


Presentation  of  the  Monument  by  Mr.  Benjamin 
Ames  Kimball,  Representing  Mr.  Edward  Tuck. 

On  August  30,  1 91 3,  Edward  Tuck  sent  me  his  corre- 
spondence with  Dr.  Joseph  W.  Warren  of  Harrisburg, 
Pa.,  and  also  with  others,  relative  to  the  condition  of  the 
tablet  on  Star  Island  which  was  erected  in  1800  to  the 
memory  of  the  Rev.  John  Tucke.  The  original  stone 
was  rapidly  disintegrating,  and  I  was  requested  to 
investigate  the  conditions  and  suggest  a  lasting  monu- 
ment to  the  pioneer  minister.  A  shaft  after  the  pro- 
portions of  an  Egyptian  obelisk  was  recommended,  and 
plans  and  specifications  for  the  memorial  now  before  us 
were  sent  to  Mr.  Tuck  for  his  approval.  He  cabled  his 
endorsement  of  the  sketches  and  suggestions,  and 
authorized  the  execution  and  erection  of  the  monument 
upon  this  spot,  land  which  has  been  deeded   to  the  New 


15 

Hampshire  Historical  Society  by  the  Piscataqua  Sav- 
ings Bank  of  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire.  And  now, 
by  the  authority  of  Mr.  Tuck  and  in  his  behalf,  I  present 
to  you,  Mr.  President  of  the  New  Hampshire  Historical 
Society,  this  monument,  to  be  cared  for  under  the  terms 
of  the  deed  of  land  by  the  Piscataqua  Savings  Bank 
which  has  just  been  presented  to  you. 

Mr.  Tuck,  in  erecting  this  monument  to  the  memory 
of  the  Rev.  John  Tucke,  did  not  intend  it  as  a  memorial 
to  commemorate  the  deeds  of  a  distinguished  citizen  of 
other  days,  but  rather  to  manifest  in  enduring  form  his 
appreciation  and  respect  for  the  memory  of  a  sincere 
and  righteous  man  who  spent  his  life  on  this  island 
doing  good  to  those  about  him. 

The  letters  on  the  shaft  tell  the  story  of  Rev.  John 
Tucke's  simple,  self-sacrificing  labors  among  the  people 
of  the  Isles  of  Shoals,  whose  minister,  teacher,  and 
bearer  of  burdens  he  continued  during  his  stay  of  more 
than  forty  years.  A  graduate  of  our  oldest  college, 
receiving  his  degree  from  Harvard  in  1723,  an  associate 
of  learned  men,  accustomed  to  social  intercourse,  he 
willingly  turned  away  and  sought  what  seems  to  us,  and 
possibly  seemed  to  him,  a  dreary  and  uneventful  exile 
for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  But  duty  called  him  here, 
and  he  gave  to  it  the  full  measure  of  devotion.  To  us  it 
may  be  difficult  to  understand  why  Mr.  Tucke  left  for- 
ever the  mainland,  with  all  its  bright  promises,  to  cast  his 
lot  among  the  rough  and  uncongenial  fishermen  of  Star 
Island,  but  we  all  know  that  he  did  it;  therefore  our 
speculations  as  to  his  motives  would  be  useless.  This 
was  his  vineyard,  and  the  laborers  were  few.  As  we 
read  the  annals  of  these  islands  we  learn  how  great  a 
power  for  good  he  was,  and  we  acknowledge  in  him  those 
attributes  that  mark  the  man,  no  matter  where  we  find 
him.     His  constant  faith  and  resolute   purpose   stamp 


i6 


him  as  no  ordinary  person,  even  in  that  age  of  conscien- 
tious and  God-fearing  men.  Tradition  informs  us  of  the 
never-lessening  influence  he  exerted  among  the  hard 
and  turbulent  members  of  his  little  parish,  who  were 
prone  to  rebel  against  too  much  discipline.  Surely  he 
must  have  possessed  singular  ability  and  wisdom  to  con- 
trol the  passions  and  keep  in  hand  the  wild  dispositions 
of  his  Gosport  congregation.  But  he  managed  affairs 
in  his  own  way,  so  that  at  his  death  he  left  his  people  in  a 
state  of  prosperity  such  as  they  had  never  before  known. 

When  we  reflect  on  the  steady  course  of  this  man's 
life  through  his  long  ministry  of  toil  and  self-denial,  we 
surely  recognize  a  strong  link  in  that  chain  of  old  New 
England  clergymen  who  did  much  to  make  and  shape 
our  early  history,  men  who  stood  for  right  living,  who 
gave  all  to  their  calling,  contented  with  work  well  done, 
and  passed  from  earth  ignorant  of  worldly  ambition  and 
worldy  emolument.  How  much  such  men  contributed 
to  the  social  well-being  and  self-reliant  character  of  our 
people  we  are  beginning  to  realize;  and  we  appreciate 
more  and  more  that  in  the  lives  of  those  men  can  be 
found  the  seeds  of  our  nation's  greatness. 

And  so  it  seems  to  me  that  we  come  nearer  to  under- 
standing the  career  of  John  Tucke,  so  long  the  humble 
minister  of  Gosport.  His  example  is  worthy  of  our  re- 
membrance, for  his  simple  life,  with  an  ambition  to  do 
good  and  be  of  service  to  his  fellowmen,  was  all  the  glory 
he  sought,  and  greater  glory  no  man  can  have.  That  the 
lesson  of  his  life  may  not  be  forgotten,  but  rather  that  it 
may  be  kept  alive  to  coming  generations,  is  the  desire 
of  his  remote  kinsman  and  fellow  American,  Edward 
Tuck. 


17 


Acceptance  by  Mr.  Frank  Sherwin  Streeter, 
President  of  the  Society. 

By  its  original  constitution  this  Society,  among  other 
things,  dedicated  itself  "to  discover,  secure  and  preserve 
whatever  may  relate  to  the  natural,  civil,  literary  and 
ecclesiastical  history  of  the  United  States  in  general 
and  of  this  state  in  particular." 

It  is  with  especial  gratification  that  we  are  now  enabled 
to  dedicate  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  the  type  of 
man  of  which  the  Reverend  John  Tucke  was  so  notable 
an  example. 

We  build  monuments  to  commemorate  great  historic 
events,  statesmen,  generals,  and  others,  who  by  their 
achievements  have  made  themselves  conspicuously 
worthy  of  remembrance  by  the  world.  This  monument 
is  erected  to  the  memory  of  one  whose  chief  distinction 
was  his  unselfish  devotion,  in  an  inconspicuous  field,  to 
the  spiritual  and  social  betterment  of  a  community  of 
obscure  and  ignorant  fisherfolk,  undistinguished  by 
either  sobriety  or  good  morals.  With  these  people  he 
lived  as  pastor,  physician,  friend,  and  helper  for  more 
than  forty  years,  because  that  was  his  conception  of  his 
personal  duty  toward  them. 

I  cannot  wholly  agree  with  Mr.  Kimball  in  saying, 
"It  may  be  difficult  for  us  to  understand  why  Mr. 
Tucke,  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  and  accustomed  to  social 
intercourse,  left  forever  the  mainland,  with  all  its  bright 
promises,  to  cast  his  lot  among  the  rough  and  uncon- 
genial fishermen  of  Star  Island." 

Does  not  his  rugged  New  England  conscience  explain 
his  choice?  He  believed  that  he  could  better  answer 
that  "stern  daughter  of  the  voice  of  God,"  his  duty,  by 
casting  his  lot  with  the  rude  fishermen  on  this  island 
than  by  living  a  life  of  ease  and  comfort  on  the  mainland. 


It  is  fitting  that  this  monument  should  stand  as  an  en- 
during memorial  of  such  a  life,  and  of  the  value  of  simple 
and  unselfish  service  to  one's  fellowmen. 

In  accepting  this  memorial  shaft  the  New  Hampshire 
Historical  Society  again  recognizes  its  lasting  obligations 
to  the  builder  and  donor,  Edward  Tuck,  the  record  of 
whose  generous  gifts  to  his  state,  his  college,  and  this 
society  constitute  an  enduring  monument  in  the  hearts 
of  his  fellow-citizens. 

To  Reverend  John  Tucke  of  a  former  generation  we 
dedicate  this  monument  as  a  memorial  of  the  unselfish 
consecration  of  his  life  to  the  betterment  of  his  fellows. 
To  his  kinsman  of  today  we  pay  our  tribute  of  honor 
and  affectionate  regard  in  recognition  of  his  great  bene- 
factions for  the  public  good  of  his  native  state. 

This  society,  in  compliance  with  the  public  purposes 
of  its  founders,  hereby  accepts  the  trusts  imposed  by  the 
grantors  of  the  land  and  by  the  builder  and  donor  of 
this  monument,  and  assumes  its  care  and  preservation 
in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  deed  of  gift  and  the 
generous  purposes  of  the  givers. 


REVEREND  JOHN   TUCKE 

By  Reverend  Alfred  Gooding. 

A  MONG  the  early  settlements  in  America  I  know  of 
-^^  but  one  that  has  so  utterly  disappeared  that  the  only 
trace  of  it  left  is  a  little  graveyard.  That  is  the  settle- 
ment that  existed  in  these  islands.  It  is  supposed  that 
there  was  a  fishing  station  here  long  before  Champlain, 
in  his  account  of  a  voyage  along  the  New  England 
coast  in  1605,  spoke  of  "Three  or  four  rather  prominent 
islands"  off  the  coast  of  what  is  now  New  Hampshire. 
Capt.  John  Smith,  who  visited  the  islands  in  1614  and 
named  them  after  himself,  tells  of  the  wonderful  fishing 
to  be  had  there.  "He  is  a  very  bad  fisher,"  says  Smith, 
"that  cannot  kill  in  one  day  with  his  hook  and  line  one, 
two,  or  three  hundred  cods,  and  is  it  not  pretty  sport 
to  pull  up  two  pence,  six  pence,  and  twelve  pence,  as 
fast  as  you  can  hale  and  veare  a  line?  "  Captain  Leavitt, 
who  arrived  here  in  the  spring  of  1622,  wrote:  "The  first 
place  I  set  foot  upon  in  New  England  was  the  Isles  of 
Shoulds,  being  islands  in  the  sea  about  two  leagues  from 
the  main.  Upon  these  islands  I  neither  could  see  one 
good  timber  tree,  nor  so  much  ground  as  to  make  a 
garden.  The  place  is  found  to  be  a  good  fishing  place 
for  six  ships,  but  more  cannot  well  be  there,  for  want  of 
convenient  stage  room,  as  this  year's  experience  hath 
proved.  The  harbor  is  but  indifferent  good.  Upon 
these  islands  are  no  savages  at  all." 

It  appears,  then,  that  the  Shoals  were  a  much  visited 
and  important  fishing  station  before  any  settlement  at 


20 


all  was  made  upon  the  mainland.  Nor  did  it  long  re- 
main a  mere  fishing  station.  By  the  middle  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  it  had  become  permanently  colonized. 
Many  substantial  and  well-furnished  houses  had  been 
built,  and  the  resident  population  numbered  six  hun- 
dred. There  was  a  meeting-house,  a  court-house,  and  a 
tavern  on  Smutty  Nose  Island,  a  bowling  alley  and  a 
brewery  on  Hog  Island,  now  Appledore.  Herds  of 
cattle  and  flocks  of  sheep  abounded.  Some  of  the  richest 
men  in  New  England  lived  there,  and  left  large  estates 
valued  at  from  two  hundred  to  seven  hundred  pounds. 
It  was  an  important  center  of  trade,  and  had  its  large 
distributing  warehouses.  As  early  as  1636,  says  Jen- 
ness,  "Thomas  Mayhew  visited  the  Shoals  for  the  pur- 
pose of  purchasing  so  large  a  quantity  as  eighty  hogs- 
heads of  provisions  at  one  time,  and  expended  one 
hundred  pounds  sterling  in  imported  'ruggs  and 
coates.'  "  Curiously  enough  the  Shoals  were  also  a  cen- 
ter of  foreign  news  brought  over  by  its  ships.  Gorges 
wrote  to  Winthrop  in  1640:  "I  cannot  send  you  news 
from  England  because  the  contrariety  of  winds  hath 
hindered  it  from  coming  from  the  Isles  of  Shoals."  How 
astonishing  to  think  of  the  Shoals  as  the  chief  source  of 
news  from  abroad.  It  was  evidently  no  common  little 
fishing  place  in  those  remote  days.  It  apparently  pos- 
sessed not  only  wealth  but  refinement.  We  are  even  told 
that  on  Smutty  Nose  there  was  "a  seminary  of  such 
repute  that  even  gentlemen  from  some  of  the  towns  on 
the  sea  coast  sent  their  sons  there  for  literary  instruc- 
tion." 

Politically  the  islands  shared  the  fate  of  the  neigh- 
boring mainland,  coming  under  the  rule  of  Massachu- 
setts. In  1 661  a  petition  to  the  Massachusetts  Gen- 
eral Court  to  be  created  a  separate  township  was 
granted.     The   whole   group   was   to   be  called   "Aple- 


21 


doore,"  from  the  Devonshire  fishing  village  of  that  name. 
In  1679,  when  New  Hampshire  was  separated  from 
Massachusetts  and  made  into  a  royal  province,  the  group 
of  islands  was  divided,  the  northern  half,  comprising 
Hog  Island  and  Smutty  Nose,  being  assigned  to  Maine, 
and  the  southern  half,  including  Star  and  White  Islands, 
becoming  a  part  of  New  Hampshire.  This  division 
caused  a  remarkable  shifting  of  population.  Prior  to 
1679  most  of  the  people  had  dwelt  on  Hog  Island  and 
Smutty  Nose.  Probably  in  order  to  avoid  the  burden 
of  Massachusetts  taxation,  the  majority  of  them  now 
moved  to  Star  Island,  and  in  1715  it  was  created  a 
township  under  the  name  of  Gosport  (God's  Port). 

The  religious  as  well  as  the  political  history  of  the 
islands  followed  that  of  the  mainland.  The  earliest 
church  in  Portsmouth,  for  instance,  was  Episcopalian. 
Its  minister  was  the  Rev.  Richard  Gibson,  who  preached 
there  in  1 639-1 640.  We  know  the  site  of  his  church  and 
of  the  house  in  which  he  lived.  He  was  settled  at  the 
Shoals  in  1641,  but  when  New  Hampshire  came  under 
the  control  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  there  was 
no  longer  any  chance  for  Episcopalianism  in  this  region. 
The  church  at  Portsmouth  became  Puritan,  and  a 
Puritan  minister,  the  Rev.  John  Brock,  was  sent  to  the 
Shoals,  where  he  lived  from  1650  to  1662.  His  contem- 
poraries apparently  thought  very  highly  of  him.  One 
of  them  said:  "I  scarce  ever  knew  any  man  so  familiar 
with  the  great  God  as  his  dear  servant  Brock."  Under 
the  motto  "Fides  in  vita"  Cotton  Mather  devotes  the 
first  chapter  of  the  fourth  book  of  his  Magnalia  to  an 
account  of  the  life  of  Mr.  Brock.  "  His  chief  learning," 
says  Mather,  "was  his  goodness,"  and  he  goes  on  to  de- 
scribe the  character  of  Brock  in  the  following  quaint 
terms:  "  He  was  a  good  grammarian,  chiefly  in  this,  that 
he  still  spoke  the  truth  from  his  heart.     He  was  a  good 


22 


logician,  chiefly  in  this,  that  he  presented  himself  unto 
God  with  a  reasonable  service.  He  was  a  good  arith- 
metician, chiefly  in  this,  that  he  so  numbered  his  days 
as  to  apply  his  heart  unto  wisdom.  He  was  a  good 
astronomer,  chiefly  in  this,  that  his  conversation  was 
in  heaven."  Mather  then  goes  on  to  state  what  he  calls 
"some  few  Remarkables"  in  the  experience  of  Mr. 
Brock  while  minister  at  the  Shoals,  the  most  remarkable 
of  which  is  perhaps  the  following:  "When  Mr.  Brock 
lived  on  the  Isles  of  Shoales  he  brought  the  people  into 
an  agreement,  that,  beside  the  Lord's  Days,  they  would 
spend  one  day  of  every  month  together  in  the  worship 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  On  a  certain  day,  which  by 
their  agreement  belonged  unto  the  exercises  of  religion, 
being  arrived,  the  fishermen  came  to  Mr.  Brock  and 
asked  him  that  they  might  put  by  their  meeting  and  go 
afishing,  because  they  had  lost  many  days  by  the  foul- 
ness of  the  weather.  He,  seeing  that  without  and  against 
his  consent  they  resolved  upon  doing  what  they  had 
asked  of  him,  replied  "If  you  will  go  away,  I  say  unto 
you  'catch  fish  if  you  can'!  But  as  for  you  that  will 
tarry  and  worship  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  this  day,  I 
will  pray  unto  Him  for  you  that  you  may  take  fish  till 
you  are  weary."  Thirty  men  went  away  from  the  meet- 
ing and  five  tarried.  The  thirty  which  went  away  from 
the  meeting,  with  all  their  skill,  could  catch  but  four 
fishes.  The  five  which  tarried  went  forth  afterwards,  and 
they  took  five  hundred.  The  fishermen  after  this  read- 
ily attended  whatever  meetings  Mr.  Brock  appointed 
them." 

Brock's  ministry  covered  a  portion  of  what  Mr.  Jen- 
ness,  in  his  historical  sketch  of  the  Isles  of  Shoals,  calls 
the  golden  age  of  the  Islands,  when  "their  population 
was  larger  than  at  any  other  point  in  the  Eastern  prov- 
inces; trade  and  commerce  were  extensive;  the  fisheries 


23 

were  pursued  with  activity;  the  little  harbor  was  filled 
with  shallops  and  pinnaces;  the  neighboring  sea  was 
dotted  with  sails  sweeping  in  and  out;  the  rocks  re- 
sounded with  clamor  and  bustled  with  business.  Every- 
where boisterous  hilarity,  animal  enjoyment,  exuberant 
spirits,  cheerful  and  varied  activity."  "  It  was  a  motley 
population,"  continues  Jenness,  "with  all  the  reckless 
and  improvident  habits  of  sailors  and  fishermen,  and  with 
all  their  hardihood,  courage,  and  spirit  of  adventure 
their  'fearful  trade'  taught  them  such  life- 
long lessons  of  self-reliance  as  almost  to  obliterate  from 
their  minds  the  very  sense  of  divine  protection  and  aid." 
Among  such  a  people  there  was  need  of  a  capable  min- 
ister. They  were  noted  for  their  indifference  to  the 
law,  their  insubordination,  their  hostility  to  taxation,  and 
their  habits  of  gross  intemperance.  In  Hubbard's  His- 
tory of  New  England  there  is  a  long  list  of  fatal  accidents 
happening  to  inhabitants  of  the  Shoals  who  had  become 
helplessly  intoxicated.  The  court  records  contain  the 
names  of  men  who  were  convicted  of  being  common  drunk- 
ards, profane  swearers  and  the  like.  John  Andrews,  for 
instance,  in  1666  was  convicted  of  "swearing,  by  the 
blood  of  Christ,  that  he  was  above  the  heavens  and 
the  stars,  at  which  time  the  said  Andrews  did  seem  to 
have  drunke  too  much,  and  did  at  that  time  call  the 
witnesses  doggs,  toads  and  foul  birds."  Into  this  com- 
munity in  the  year  1732  came  the  man  whose  memory 
we  celebrate  here  today  by  the  dedication  of  this  monu- 
ment. John  Tucke  was  born  August  23,  1702,  at 
Hampton,  N.  H.,  where  his  great-grandfather,  emigrating 
from  Gorlston,  Suffolk,  England,  settled  about  the  year 
1636.  Tucke  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  in  the 
class  of  1723.  His  name  stands  seventeenth  in  the  list 
of  forty-three  graduates  of  that  year  given  in  the  Quin- 
quennial Catalogue.     Prior  to  the  year  1770  the  names 


24 

of  each  year's  graduates  were  arranged  in  the  catalogue 
not  in  the  order  of  scholarship,  but  in  the  order  of  social 
rank.  From  which  we  may  judge  that  the  name  of 
Tucke  stood  tolerably  high  in  the  social  order  of  the 
time.  He  married  Mary  Dole  of  Hampton  November 
24,  1724,  and,  after  declining  a  call  to  the  church  at 
Chester,  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  at  Star  Island  on 
the  26th  of  July,  1732.  The  sermon  was  given  by  Rev. 
Jabez  Fitch  of  Portsmouth  from  the  obviously  appro- 
priate text,  "I  will  make  you  fishers  of  men."  Mr. 
Tucke  spent  his  life  in  the  service  of  the  people  who 
lived  upon  these  islands,  his  ministry  covering  a  period 
of  more  than  forty  years.  Rev.  Jedediah  Morse,  who 
wrote  a  "Description  of  the  Isles  of  Shoals"  which  was 
printed  in  the  collections  of  the  Massachusetts  His- 
torical Society  for  the  year  1800,  said  of  Mr.  Tucke: 
"Mr.  Tucke  was  a  man  of  an  affable  and  amiable  dis- 
position, of  easy  and  polite  manners,  of  humble  and 
unaffected  piety,  of  diligence  and  fidelity  in  the  service 
of  the  ministry.  He  was  'given  to  hospitality  and  apt  to 
teach.'  In  history  and  geography  he  was  eminently 
learned,  beyond  most  of  his  contemporaries.  He  acted 
in  the  double  capacity  of  physician  of  body  and  of  soul. 
In  imitation  of  his  divine  master  he  went  about  doing 
good  among  all  classes  of  the  people  of  his  charge,  and 
his  labors  were  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord.  Under  his 
nurturing,  pastoral  care  his  people  increased  in  numbers 
and  in  wealth,  in  knowledge,  piety,  and  respectability. 
Few  parishes  in  New  England  at  this  period  gave  a  more 
generous  support  to  their  minister,  and  few  congrega- 
tions were  more  constant  and  exemplary  in  their  at- 
tendance on  public  worship.  Such  is  the  account  of  the 
character  of  this  venerable  man,  and  of  the  fruits  of  his 
labors,  which  I  have  received  from  many  aged  and 
respectable  people  who  were  personally  acquainted  with 
him." 


25 

That  his  people  appreciated  his  services  is  shown  by 
their  liberal  support.  When  they  called  him  to  their 
ministry  they  offered  him  a  salary  of  one  hundred  and 
ten  pounds  per  annum,  old  tenor,  and  fifty  pounds 
toward  the  cost  of  building  a  house  for  himself  on  a  lot 
of  his  own  choosing,  which  they  also  presented  to  him. 
Some  years  later  they  increased  his  salary  by  paying  the 
minister  in  fish,  a  quintal  per  man,  which  at  the  current 
price  for  fish  amounted  to  about  one  hundred  guineas 
per  annum,  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  largest  salaries 
paid  at  that  time  in  New  England.  They  also,  besides 
helping  to  build  a  parsonage  for  him,  supplied  him  with 
wood  for  heating  it,  no  insignificant  matter.  The 
minister  who  has  no  rent  to  pay  and  no  fuel  to  buy  is 
at  once  relieved  of  two  very  important  items  of  house- 
hold expense.  No  doubt  Mr.  Tucke  lived  very  comfort- 
ably on  Star  Island.  He  is  said  to  have  possessed  an 
admirable  library,  and  abundant  leisure  for  study  must 
have  been  his  in  that  remote  parish,,  with  its  entire  free- 
dom from  all  outside  interests  and  from  the  thousand 
and  one  demands  upon  the  minister's  time  which  he 
can  escape  only  by  going  to  sea.  To  be  minister  at  the 
Shoals  had  all  the  advantages  of  being  afloat  and  none 
of  its  disadvantages.  On  the  whole  Mr.  Tucke's  min- 
istry must  have  been  a  highly  satisfactory  one.  For 
more  than  forty  years  he  was  the  guide  and  friend  of  this 
unusual  group  of  people.  His  parish  was  co-extensive 
with  the  islands.  Everybody  turned  to  him  both  in 
sorrow  and  in  sickness,  for  he  was  their  physician  as 
well  as  their  minister.  Evidently  he  possessed  the 
respect  and  affection  of  all.  The  inscription  upon  his 
tombstone,  although  written  thirty  years  after  his 
death,  probably  describes  faithfully  the  feeling  toward 
him  of  those  whom  he  served  so  long  and  well. 

"He  was  affable  and  polite  in  his  manner, 
Amiable  in  his  disposition, 


26 


Of  great  piety  and  integrity,  given  to  hospitality, 

Diligent  and  faithful  in  his  pastoral  office, 

Well  learned  in  History  and  Geography,  as  well  as 

General  Science, 

And  a  careful  physician  both  to  the  bodies  and  the 

Souls  of  his  People." 

Politeness  and  amiability,  piety  and  hospitality! 
The  representative  of  these  virtues  must  have  been  an 
ideal  minister  for  the  community  that  occupied  these 
islands.  No  doubt  its  deterioration  and  decay  were  long 
deferred  by  the  presence  here  and  the  influence  of  such 
a  man  as  John  Tucke.  We  know  what  happened  soon 
after  his  death  in  1773.  At  the  beginning  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution  many  of  the  islanders  moved  to  the 
mainland,  since  it  was  supposed  that  the  Shoals  would 
be  specially  subject  to  attack  by  British  ships.  So  few 
people  were  left  that  they  were  no  longer  able  to  support 
a  minister.  They  rapidly  fell  into  a  state  of  heathen- 
ism; profanity,  drunkenness,  and  worse  vices  prevailed 
among  them,  and  in  the  year  1790  the  old  meeting-house 
was  pulled  down  and  used  for  fuel.  It  was  fitting  that 
the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  among  the 
Indians  and  Others  in  North  America  should  establish 
a  mission  to  the  Shoals  in  the  year  1799,  for  the  inhabit- 
ants had  become  worse  than  any  Indians.  The  story 
of  this  society's  long,  faithful,  and  partly  successful 
labors  to  re-establish  religion  and  civilization  at  Gosport 
does  not  belong  here,  but  is  certainly  worth  reading. 
The  need  for  the  faithful  missionary  came  to  an  end  in 
the  early  seventies,  when  the  old  fishing  village  disap- 
peared and  the  islands  became  a  summer  resort. 

Within  the  last  two  years  two  noteworthy  things  have 
been  done  tending  to  preserve  the  memory  of  the  faith- 
ful minister  who  devoted  his  long-life  to  the  people  who 
inhabited  these  islands.  One  is  the  placing  over  his 
grave  of  this  granite  shaft  by  Mr.  Edward  Tuck,  bear- 


27 

ing  the  admirable  inscription  written  in  the  year  1800 
for  the  stone  tablet,  which  was  fast  becoming  illegible. 
Its  words  of  discriminating  praise  are  now  in  no  danger 
of  being  forgotten.  The  other  thing  which  has  been 
done  lately,  involving  the  perpetuation  of  Mr.  Tucke's 
memory,  is  the  careful  publication  by  Dr.  Joseph  W. 
Warren  in  the  New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical 
Register  of  the  records  of  Gosport  church  and  town. 
John  Tucke  figures  largely  in  these  interesting  documents. 
Indeed,  the  records  begin  with  his  coming  to  Gosport, 
and  we  probably  owe  them  to  his  initiative.  The  vote 
to  call  him  to  the  ministry  at  the  Shoals,  the  amount 
of  his  salary,  the  contribution  of  fifty  pounds  toward 
the  building  of  a  parsonage,  the  gift  of  a  house  site  and 
"a  garden  spot,"  and  permission  to  keep  a  cow  on  the 
island  are  all  carefully  recorded,  and  later  on  there 
appears  each  year  the  vote  to  pay  the  minister's  salary 
in  "winter  fish."  Dr.  Warren  has  proved  from  these 
records  that  the  long  accepted  date  of  Mr.  Tucke's 
death  recorded  on  the  old  gravestone,  August  12,  1773, 
is  incorrect,  for  he  shows  that  Mr.  Tucke  entered  upon 
the  church  book  the  baptism  of  two  children  as  of  August 
15,  and  that  he  probably  died  late  in  August,  since  a 
notice  of  his  death  appears  in  the  New  Hampshire 
Gazette  of  September  3,  1773. 

The  publication  of  these  interesting  old  records  was 
certainly  worth  while.  They  perpetuate  among  us  the 
history  of  a  curious  and  picturesque  community  which 
has  itself  entirely  disappeared,  these  historical  records 
of  which  it  would  be  a  pity  to  allow  to  remain  practically 
unknown.  With  their  pubhcation,  and  with  the  placing 
of  this  permanent  monument,  we  have  a  sufficient 
memorial  of  the  people  who  once  inhabited  these  is- 
lands and  of  him  who  was  ordained  here  to  their  ministry, 
and  for  nearly  half  a  century  devoted  himself  to  their 
truest  well-being. 


Luncheon  was  then  served  at  the  Oceanic  Hotel,  after 
which  Mr.  Wallace  Hackett,  as  toastmaster,  presided. 


TOASTS  AND  RESPONSES 
Mr.  Hackett,  Toastmaster. 

The  New  Hampshire  Historical  Society  and  the  com- 
mittee having  in  charge  the  ceremonies  of  today  are  very 
much  gratified  at  the  large  attendance  of  their  friends 
and  members. 

No  more  appropriate  place  and  no  more  appropriate 
occasion  could  be  selected  for  a  gathering  of  the  New 
Hampshire  Historical  Society.  The  fitness  of  the  occa- 
sion is  emphasized  by  the  fact  that  a  few  years  ago  in 
Rochester  in  this  state  a  simple  monument  was  erected 
in  the  public  square  to  the  memory  of  Parson  Main,  long 
settled  in  that  community.  On  that  occasion  President 
Murkland  stated  that  those  early  ministers,  who  were 
pioneers  not  only  in  religion  but  in  scholarship  and 
medicine,  and  by  their  example  were  leaders  in  the  broad 
paths  of  civilization,  exercised  an  influence  entirely  out 
of  proportion  to  that  of  members  of  the  profession  at  the 
present  time,  and  that  it  was  time  their  memory  was 
honored  by  some  substantial  monument. 

Whatever  was  said  of  Parson  Main  in  Rochester  is 
doubly  true  of  Parson  Tucke  at  the  Shoals,  who  passed 
forty  years  of  his  life  in  this  community,  separated  from 
his  friends,  relatives,  books,  institutions  of  learning,  and 
the  society  of  men  of  similar  tastes. 

As  to  the  appropriateness  of  the  place,  this  spot  which 
we  have  marked  today  was  the  scene  of  a  flourishing 
community  long  before  the  settlement  of  Strawberry 
Bank  in  1623.  It  was  here  that  the  first  adventurers 
built  their  houses  and  started  the  work  of  fishing.     One 


30 

of  the  early  ministers,  reproving  his  congregation,  stated 
that  they  had  departed  from  the  paths  of  their  fore- 
fathers, who  came  here  to  exercise  the  privilege  of  reHg- 
ious  liberty.  He  was  interrupted  by  one  of  his  congre- 
gation saying:  "Not  so;  our  forefathers  came  here  to 
fish  and  to  trade." 

This  was  eminently  true  of  the  settlement  at  the  Shoals. 
The  islands  were  free  from  woods  and  ready  to  build  on ; 
the  fish  were  abundant;  and,  beyond  all,  the  Indians, 
who  were  often  troublesome  on  the  main,  seldom  came 
as  far  as  these  islands. 

It  is  a  rare  event  in  the  history  of  the  State  of  New 
Hampshire  when  the  Governor  comes  to  visit  this  re- 
mote and  outlying  portion  of  his  jurisdiction.  If  the 
Shoals  have  sent  no  Governor  to  Concord,  it  is  equally 
true  that  Concord  has  sent  very  few  Governors  to  the 
Shoals.  Our  present  Governor,  however,  believes  in 
breaking  over  traditions,  and  we  are  glad  to  welcome 
today  as  the  representative  of  the  State  of  New  Hamp- 
shire its  chief  executive  Governor  Samuel  D.  Felker. 


THE  STATE  OF  NEW  HAMPSHIRE 
By  His  Excellency  Samuel  D.  Felker. 

New  Hampshire  owes  a  great  deal  to  the  New  Hamp- 
shire Historical  Society.  Away  back  in  its  beginning 
it  commenced  to  collect  data  for  the  benefit  of  us  all. 
It  seems  to  me  it  might  use  its  influence  to  induce  every 
town  in  the  whole  state  to  mark  places  of  similar  interest 
to  the  one  here,  and  thus  keep  in  memory  forever  the 
spots  where  great  achievements  of  the  past  have  been 
accomplished. 

That  the  history  of  New  Hampshire  may  be  written 
and  well  written  later  on,  the  State  of  New  Hampshire 


31 

now  has  a  force  of  young  girls  working  in  the  capitol 
copying  the  records  of  every  town  and  city  in  this  state. 
It  will  take  several  years  to  complete  this  work.  In 
this  way  there  may  be  gathered  up  from  stray  leaves 
some  historical  facts  which  perhaps  have  not  been  com- 
pletely recorded  in  the  past,  and  these  will  help  to  form 
a  true  basis  for  the  history  of  these  early  settlers. 

My  mind,  as  I  sat  here,  turned  back  to  the  time  of 
those  early  settlers  three  hundred  years  ago,  and  to  those 
early  ministers,  the  troubles  and  trials  that  they  endured, 
but  beyond  everything  their  adaptability  as  ministers  to 
the  people  who  lived  here.  Mr.  Tucke  was  not  only  their 
minister  but  their  physician.  He  was  not  only  their 
physician  but,  as  I  am  told,  he  kept  the  books  at 
some  little  country  store.  He  kept  the  records  of  his 
church.  He  did  everything  that  the  demands  of  the 
times  and  of  his  people  called  for.  Such  a  man  must 
make  his  impression. 

If  the  ministers  today  are  to  make  an  impression  upon 
the  community,  they  must  adapt  themselves  to  the 
community  and  interest  the  community  in  the  church. 
Some  say  that  we  are  going  to  do  everything  by  union 
of  the  churches.  I  doubt  it  very  much.  For  the  differ- 
ent forms  of  religion  arise  largely  from  different  forms 
of  sentiment  rather  than  reason.  I  am  a  Methodist 
because  my  sentiment  runs  in  that  direction.  I  am  a 
Congregationalist  because  my  sentiment  runs  in  that 
direction.  Some  say  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, which  does  everything  for  men,  will  solve  the 
problem  of  the  religious  uplift  of  the  day.  Some  say 
that  a  social  center  will  solve  such  a  problem.  Now, 
cooperation  and  right  demarcation  between  different 
kinds  of  society,  and  helping  hands,  will  do  a  great  deal 
more.  I  was  in  Keene  last  Monday  night,  and  the 
manager  of  the  Chautauqua  there  said:  "  It  will  take  two 


32 

men  four  hours  to  clear  this  place  of  these  chairs.  Now, 
if  every  man  and  woman  who  has  a  seat  in  the  tent  will 
take  a  chair  and  deposit  it  on  the  outside  it  will  be  done 
in  just  three  minutes."  And  it  was  done.  That  is 
what  cooperation  can  do  and  will  do  in  every  commu- 
nity if  you  can  get  the  right  spirit;  and  that  is  the  spirit 
New  Hampshire  demands  today,  and  that  not  only  of 
the  ministers  but  of  the  congregations  themselves, 
cooperation  in  divergency. 

I  do  not  believe  that  either  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  the  Grange,  or  a  social  center  will  solve  this 
problem,  but  all  efforts  must  be  adapted  to  each  local 
community.  There  must  be  brought  to  the  church 
leadership  and  real  vision.  The  minister  must  be  on 
the  ground,  sharing,  not  a  part,  but  the  whole  life  of 
his  people. 

Mr.  Hackett,  Toastmaster. 

Harvard  College,  where  John  Tucke  graduated  in  1723, 
is  appropriately  represented  here  today.  We  recall  with 
pleasure  that  in  the  early  days  of  that  great  and  venerable 
institution  the  little  settlement  of  Portsmouth  volun- 
tarily taxed  itself,  and  contributed  one  hundred  pounds 
a  year  for  three  years  to  the  support  of  Harvard  College. 

President  Lowell,  who  confidently  expected  to  be  here 
today,  has  been  obliged  to  change  his  plans.  But  under 
the  great  seal  of  the  University  he  has  appointed  to 
represent  her  one  of  her  most  loyal  sons,  Professor  James 
A.  Tufts  of  Phillips  Exeter  Academy. 


33 

HARVARD  COLLEGE  AND   REV.  JOHN  TUCKE 
By  Professor  James  Arthur  Tufts. 

I  have  the  honor  to  represent  Harvard  College,  the 
Alma  Mater  of  him  to  whose  memory  we  dedicate  this 
monument. 

John  Tucke  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1723, 
the  seventeenth,  socially,  in  his  class  of  forty-three 
members,  eighteen  of  whom  became  ministers.  Indeed, 
in  the  first  century  of  the  college  nearly  one-half  of  the 
graduates  became  ministers.  It  was  a  period  of  relig- 
ious controversies.  President  Leverett  was  opposed  by 
the  Mathers,  and  was  attacked  by  Samuel  Sewall  on  the 
ground  that  there  had  been  some  "intermission  of  the  ex- 
position of  the  Scriptures  of  late."  His  religion,  we  are 
told,  was  enlightened  and  liberal.  To  his  firmness  and 
that  of  his  associates  under  circumstances  of  great  trial, 
and  in  opposition  to  an  almost  overwhelming  power,  the 
college  is,  probably,  in  a  great  measure  indebted  for  its 
religious  freedom  today. 

In  Mr.  Tucke's  time  the  college  consisted  of  three 
buildings,  Massachusetts  Hall,  built  in  1720  at  public 
expense,  old  Harvard  Hall,  built  in  1682  with  money 
raised  from  various  towns  and  individuals,  and  old 
Stoughton.  In  1721  the  first  professorship,  that  of 
divinity,  was  founded  by  an  Englishman,  Thomas 
Hollis.  In  1725  the  college  faculty  was  organized.  In 
1726  a  professorship  of  mathematics  was  founded. 

A  quotation  from  a  report  of  a  committee  of  the  Board 
of  Overseers  in  1723  throws  a  strong  light  upon  college 
life  of  the  time.  "Although  there  is  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  virtuous  and  studious  youth  in  the  college,  yet 
there  has  been  a  practice  of  several  immoralities,  particu- 
larly stealing,  lying,  swearing,  idleness,  picking  of  locks, 
and  too  frequent  use  of  strong  drink     .     .     .     the  schol- 


34 

ars  are  many  of  them  too  long  absent  from  the  college 
.  .  .  the  scholars  do  generally  spend  too  much  of  the 
Saturday  evenings  in  one  another's  chambers  .  .  . 
the  Freshmen,  as  well  as  others,  are  seen  in  great  numbers 
going  into  town  (Cambridge)  on  Sabbath  mornings  to 
provide  breakfasts."  Disorder  ran  high  at  the  com- 
mencements, we  are  told.  In  1722  the  "Commencers," 
so-called,  were  prohibited  from  providing  plum  pudding, 
meats,  pies,  or  liquors,  and  their  rooms  were  visited  by 
the  Corporation  in  order  to  enforce  the  prohibition. 
Evasion  by  furnishing  "plain  cake"  might  be  punished 
with  the  loss  of  the  degree.  It  was  voted  "that  the 
butler  may  not  sell  his  cider  for  more  than  two  pence  per 
quart  until  the  first  of  February,"  and  resolutions  regulat- 
ing the  price  of  bread,  meats,  cider,  etc.,  were  frequently 
adopted  by  the  Corporation  or  the  Board  of  Overseers. 
We  are  not  told  what  price  the  butler  might  ask  for  his 
cider  after  the  first  of  February. 

A  committee  of  the  Board  of  Overseers  proposed  that 
the  laws  should  be  revised,  written  in  Latin,  and  that  a 
copy  should  be  given  to  each  student.  Students  were 
forbidden  to  use  punch,  flip,  and  like  intoxicating  drinks; 
those  rooming  in  the  college  were  required  to  board  at 
commons;  and  it  was  voted  to  require  better  food,  clean 
tablecloths  of  convenient  length  and  breadth  twice  a 
week,  and  plates.  It  was  a  time,  not  of  checks  and 
balances,  but  of  fines.  The  fine  for  absence  from  prayers 
was  two  pence;  for  tardiness  at  prayers,  one  penny;  for 
absence  from  public  worship,  nine  pence;  for  tardiness 
at  public  worship,  three  pence;  for  ill  behavior  at  public 
worship  or  irreverent  behavior  at  prayers,  one  shilling 
and  six  pence.  What  wonder  that  John  Tucke  should 
choose  to  withdraw  to  the  quiet  life  of  these  islands  and 
become  a  fisher  of  men!  We  can  easily  imagine  on 
his  shield  the  Harvard  mottoes,  "Veritas:  Christo  et 
Ecclesiae." 


35 

Mr.  Hackett,  Toastmaster. 

Dartmouth  College  naturally  occupies  a  prominent 
place  in  our  thoughts  on  an  occasion  so  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  the  family  name  of  Tuck. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  history  of  this  community, 
when  Gosport  was  one  of  the  flourishing  settlements  of 
the  colony,  with  six  hundred  inhabitants,  merchants  and 
commerce  of  its  own,  and  before  Dartmouth  College 
emerged  from  the  forests,  it  sustained  here  an  academy 
or  institution  of  learning,  and  young  people  from  the 
main  were  sent  here  for  instruction.  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege, we  are  glad  to  say,  has  proved  the  fittest  to  survive, 
and  it  is  worthily  represented  today  by  Mr.  Homer 
Eaton  Keyes,  Business  Director,  who  will  speak  for 
"Dartmouth  College  and  Edward  Tuck." 


DARTMOUTH  COLLEGE  AND   EDWARD  TUCK 
By  Homer  Eaton  Keyes. 

It  is  quite  fitting  that  Dartmouth  College  should  be 
represented  here  today,  and  that  not  merely  as  a  token 
that  this  ceremonial  is  of  vital  interest  to  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  hence  to  the  state's  oldest  and  most  notable 
institution.  The  significance  of  Dartmouth's  partici- 
pation goes  deeper  than  that.  I  take  it  that  this  monu- 
ment which  has  been  dedicated  today  means  to  all  of  us 
gathered  here  not  so  much  a  memorial  of  a  man's  life, 
not  so  much  the  identification  of  the  grave  of  one  who 
lived,  as  it  does  the  symbol  of  a  very  definite  ideal,  the 
ideal  of  sacrifice,  the  submergence  of  personal  ambition, 
— it  may  be  personal  welfare — for  the  larger  good. 

And,  Mr.  Toastmaster,  by  the  same  sign  I  bring  you 
Dartmouth  College.     John  Tucke  had  for  nearly  half  a 


36 

century  served  in  his  sea-girt  mission  when  Eleazer 
Wheelock,  stirred  by  a  similar  impulse  of  self-sacrifice, 
forced  his  way  through  the  northern  forest,  in  whose 
depths  he  and  his  little  band  of  companions  at  length 
felled  the  trees  to  build  the  "hutt  of  logs,  without 
stone,  brick,  glass  or  nail,"  first  building  of  Dartmouth 
College. 

That  primitive  structure  has  long  since  been  swept 
away,  but  the  expanding  college  of  today,  founded  by  the 
effort  of  Wheelock,  and  maintained  by  struggles,  often 
little  less  heroic,  on  the  part  of  his  successors,  stands, 
like  this  obelisk,  a  monument  to  the  same  noble  ideal. 

It  is  a  happy  coincidence  that  our  thoughts  of  John 
Tucke  and  of  Eleazer  Wheelock  should  be  united  in 
Edward  Tuck,  kinsman  of  him  to  whom  we  dedicate 
this  granite  shaft,  honored  son  and  most  generous  bene- 
factor of  that  college  which  realizes  the  other's  inspired 
dream. 

Mr,  Tuck's  giving  is,  in  its  way,  as  distinct  a  giving 
of  self  as  was  theirs.  His  donations  to  Dartmouth  have 
been  ever  the  expression  of  a  keen  personal  interest,  and 
of  a  knowledge  based  always  upon  the  most  thorough 
study  of  conditions. 

He  was  among  the  first  to  perceive  the  possibilities 
that  lay  in  investigating  business  principles  and  codify- 
ing them  as  a  science;  hence  the  founding,  endowing, 
and  housing  of  the  Tuck  School  of  Administration  and 
Finance  at  Dartmouth  College. 

The  general  academic  need  for  more  adequate  in- 
struction he  helped  to  meet  at  Dartmouth  by  an  endow- 
ment of  half  a  million  dollars,  to  be  devoted  to  the 
increase  of  salaries  and  to  the  enlargement  of  the  teach- 
ing staff.  His  appreciation  and  love  for  the  finer  aspects 
of  French  culture  and  civilization  have  resulted  in  the 
gift  of  large  additions  to  the  college  library  equipment 


37 

in  the  department  of  Romance  languages,  and  In  a 
special  foundation  to  encourage  and  stimulate  the  study 
of  French.  The  stately  setting  of  his  Alma  Mater  he  has 
enhanced  by  the  construction  of  a  splendid  drive,  sweep- 
ing up  wooded  slopes  to  the  broad  plateau  which  her 
buildings  dominate. 

These  are  the  larger  things.  His  loyal  and  generous 
regard  is  constantly  manifest  in  other  ways  innumerable; 
no  detail  of  college  progress  is  too  small  for  his  interest, 
no  outline  of  educational  policy  too  broad  for  his  com- 
prehension. 

John  Tucke  and  Eleazer  Wheelock  lived  in  a  period  of 
individualism.  The  term  is  not  altogether  in  good  re- 
pute with  those  of  us  who  forget  that,  at  its  best,  this 
individualism  means  the  unhesitating  voluntary  sacrifice 
of  the  individual  to  society.  We  certainly  see  this 
manifestation  in  Tucke  and  Wheelock.  Their  watch- 
word was  not  rights  but  duty.  From  them  Edward 
Tuck  is  the  direct  spiritual  heritor.  In  honoring  them, 
dead,  we  can  but  pay  tribute  to  him  who,  living,  so 
largely  exemplifies  their  worthiest  characteristics. 


Mr.  Hackett,  Toastmaster. 

For  the  next  speaker  I  entertain  the  highest  respect. 
He  served  his  native  city  as  chief  executive,  and  retired 
from  that  position  with  the  honor  and  esteem  of  his 
townsmen.  For  many  years  he  has  presided  in  the 
probate  court  for  Merrimack  County. 

He  has  performed  much  and  excellent  work  of  an 
historical  nature,  and  we  confidently  look  for  much  more 
in  the  future  from  his  pen,  which  is  probably  the  most 
able  in  that  line  of  research  now  in  New  Hampshire.  It 
gives  me  much  pleasure  to  present  to  you  Judge  Charles 
R.  Corning  of  Concord. 


38 

EDWARD  TUCK 
By  Charles  Robert  Corning. 

To  respond  to  the  call  of  our  toastmaster  on  this 
occasion  is  both  a  privilege  and  a  pleasure.  To  me  it 
is  a  privilege  to  speak  of  Mr.  Tuck  at  any  time,  and  it 
is  a  pleasure  to  speak  of  him  as  I  think  he  deserves. 
And  I  can  begin,  I  think,  with  saying  to  you  that  if 
Mr.  Tuck's  self-esteem  were  measured  by  his  kindly, 
modest  nature  and  rare  beneficence  he  would  probably 
be  here  today  to  recite  to  you  the  extent  and  purpose 
of  his  many  generous  acts,  but  that  is  not  his  way. 

His  voice  is  silent  but  his  thoughts  are  with  us,  and 
he  and  Mrs.  Tuck  in  their  beautiful  home  across  the 
sea  are  wishing  us  all  the  fullest  measure  of  success. 
Edward  Tuck  was  born  in  Exeter;  he  prepared  for 
college  at  the  famous  old  academy,  and  was  graduated 
from  Dartmouth  in  1862.  His  father,  Amos  Tuck,  was 
an  eminent  public  man  of  character  and  political  inde- 
pendence, whose  name  will  be  long  remembered  in  the 
annals  of  our  state.  After  his  graduation  Mr.  Tuck 
went  to  Europe,  and  soon  received  an  appointment  to 
the  United  States  consular  service  in  Paris.  He  subse- 
quently engaged  in  banking  with  a  well-known  firm,  and 
owing  to  business  reasons  had  his  residence  in  New  York 
for  several  years.  He  continued  the  banking  business 
until  the  early  eighties,  when  he  finally  retired  from  its 
activities.  Although  he  may  have  retired  from  business, 
it  must  be  plain  to  you  who  know  Mr,  Tuck  that  he 
has  never  retired  from  an  earnest  activity  in  doing  good. 

It  is  in  this  sphere  that  we  know  him  best.  You 
have  heard  of  his  splendid  gifts  to  his  old  college,  and 
you  all  have  seen  and  appreciated  our  noble  library  in 
Concord,  but  those  by  no  means  complete  the  list  of 
benefactions  made  by  this  generous  man.     Mr.  Tuck 


39 

has  now  lived  in  Paris  many  years,  but  I  ask  you  to 
keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  foreign  residence  has  in  no 
degree  weakened  or  lessened  his  sterling  American  man- 
hood. Surely  Horace  had  in  view  a  man  not  unlike 
Edward  Tuck  when  he  wrote  these  suggestive  lines: 
"  Coelum,  non  animum  mutant, 
qui  trans  mare  currunt," 

which  Conington  interprets, 
"where'er  we  range 
It  is  the  sky  and  not  the  mind  we  change." 

Mr.  Tuck's  Paris  home  is  in  the  broad  and  stately 
Champs  Elysees,  midway  from  the  Place  de  la  Concorde 
to  the  Arc  de  Triomphe. 

I  have  called  it  his  home,  and  so  it  is;  yet  it  is  a  home 
and  an  art  collection  in  one.  To  describe  its  splendid 
objects  would  compel  me  to  undertake  a  series  of  word 
paintings  far  beyond  my  power  even  were  this  the  time 
and  place. 

About  eight  miles  distant  from  Paris  in  a  south- 
westerly direction  is  the  summer  home  of  our  friend. 
There  we  are  on  historic  ground.  Vert  Mont,  comprising 
perhaps  twenty  acres  or  more,  slopes  gradually  toward 
the  Seine.  Mr.  Tuck's  estate  was,  in  former  days, 
a  part  of  the  extensive  park  of  Malmaison,  owned 
by  Empress  Josephine.  What  a  wealth  of  personal  and 
imperial  history  clusters  round  that  spot!  Pleasure  and 
gaiety,  sorrow  and  tragedy,  mingled  as  never  before  in 
the  lives  of  two  persons,  are  deeply  impressed  on  the 
annals  of  that  enchanting  domain.  After  the  death  of 
the  Empress  in  1814  the  estate  passed  into  strange  hands. 
First  a  private  citizen,  and  afterward  Christina,  the  exiled 
Queen  of  Spain,  became  the  owner.  Finally  Napoleon 
III  acquired  the  property,  which  he  presented  to  France. 
With  the  fall  of  the  empire  came  the  disposition  of  the 


40 

park  to  various  proprietors,  but,  fortunately,  the  cele- 
brated castle  or  chateau  was  kept  by  the  Republic  and 
made  a  museum  of  exceeding  interest.  Vert  Mont,  you 
see,  is  inseparably  associated  with  Josephine  and  the 
golden  period  of  Napoleon.  To  give  you  a  picture  of  that 
spot,  and  to  tell  you  in  words  about  its  many  charms 
is  more  than  I  can  undertake  on  this  occasion.  Nothing 
short  of  the  camera  could  make  you  see  those  numerous 
and  varied  objects  which  I  despair  of  describing. 

But  I  may  say,  concerning  Vert  Mont,  that  the  genius 
of  landscape  perfection  is  impressed  on  one  at  every 
turn.  Banks  of  flowers  and  shrubs  follow  the  winding 
roadway;  there  are  parterres  and  terraces,  lawns  green 
and  smooth  as  the  covering  of  billiard  tables,  conserva- 
tories, great  gardens  of  fruits  and  melons,  paths  winding 
through  the  trees,  fountains  and  brooks — but  I  forbear. 
And  then  in  the  evening  thousands  of  lights  gleam  among 
the  foliage  and  flowers,  while  a  radiance  of  many  hues 
illumines  the  little  pond  beyond  the  velvet  lawn,  lending 
beauty  to  the  stars  and  stripes  flying  proudly  above  all. 
The  fascination,  once  felt,  abides  with  one  forever. 

A  word  more.  Many-sided  in  doing  good  is  Edward 
Tuck,  nor  is  there  a  narrow  dispensation  in  what  he 
does.  Not  far  from  his  summer  home  he  has  built  a 
modern  and  admirably  equipped  hospital,  which  he 
maintains,  himself;  and  not  long  ago  a  little  park  was 
another  gift  to  the  people  of  Rueil.  Mrs.  Tuck  shares 
her  husband's  interest  in  everything,  and  loves  to  do 
good  for  its  own  sake.  How  many  have  been  her  bene- 
factions, how  much  want  and  misery  she  has  relieved, 
Mrs,  Tuck  alone  knows.  But  I  can  tell  of  the  school 
for  the  town's  poor  children  which  she  supports  and 
often  visits,  notwithstanding  the  many  demands  upon 
her  time. 

I  must  close  with  this  all  too  incomplete  estimate  of 


41 

Mr.  Tuck.  His  heart  beats  in  sympathy  with  those 
that  deserve  sympathy;  he  is  veritably  a  man  whose 
right  hand  knows  nothing  of  what  the  other  does;  noto- 
riety is  his  abhorrence;  fame  and  reputation  he  does  not 
seek;  strong  in  character,  charitable  in  judgment,  a 
despiser  of  hypocrisy  and  cant,  humorous,  warm-hearted, 
loyal,  interested  in  the  doings  of  the  world,  in  touch 
with  many  men,  sure  of  himself,  and  recognizing  his 
great  trust  and  its  responsibilities,  he  lives  his  life  like 
the  true  American  that  he  is. 


Mr.  Hackett,  Toastmaster. 

We  are  fortunate  in  having  with  us  today  a  gentleman 
not  announced  on  the  program,  but  who  has  kindly 
consented  to  say  a  few  words  to  us ;  and  he  is  entitled  to 
that  privilege  because  he  is  a  former  President  of  the 
New  Hampshire  Historical  Society,  having  served  in 
that  capacity  in  the  days  of  adversity,  when  the  Society 
had  no  beautiful  home  and  no  efficient  Secretary  as  it 
now  has,  and  in  the  days  when  the  burden  was  sustained 
largely  by  the  individual  efforts  of  the  President  himself. 

I  have  the  honor  to  introduce  Honorable  Samuel  C. 
Eastman  of  Concord. 


THE  NEW  HAMPSHIRE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 
By  Samuel  Coffin  Eastman. 

I  cannot  imagine  why  I  was  selected  except  upon  the 
principle  that  the  object  of  the  Society  is  the  cultivation 
of  antiquity.  I  believe  that  I  happen  to  be,  so  far  as 
time  of  election  is  concerned,  the  oldest  member  of  the 
Society,  and  perhaps  that  is  the  cause.  To  quote  our 
Roman  poet  Horace  again,  it  may  be  that  I  am  expected 
to  be  a  "laudator  temporis  acti  me  puero,"  a  garrulous 


42 

story-teller  of  what  happened  when  I  was  a  boy.  I 
don't  know,  so  far  as  the  Historical  Society  is  concerned, 
but  that  if  I  undertook  that  task  I  should  have  to  return 
to  the  toastmaster  himself,  and  speak  of  his  grandfather, 
who  was  one  of  the  mainsprings  of  the  Society  in  the 
days  when  I  first  belonged  to  it;  and  of  Dr.  Bouton  of 
Concord,  without  whom  the  Society  could  not  possibly 
have  existed  in  its  earlier  days;  of  Dr.  Cummings,  who 
was  always  going  to  write  the  history  of  the  Baptists  in 
New  Hampshire,  but  who  died  before  he  reached  his 
task;  and  of  many  others  whom  I  might  name.  The 
Society  was  smaller  and  poorer  than  it  is  now,  but  it 
always  had  many  earnest  and  devoted  members  who 
made  its  reputation  known  to  the  world. 

Allusion  has  been  made  to  the  present  condition  of 
this  Society,  and  what  it  was  when  I  first  joined  it.  I 
remember  the  place  where  the  Society  had  its  storage  of 
books  when  I  first  became  a  member,  an  attic  room, 
with  the  rafters  covered  with  hanging  cobwebs;  and  the 
change  from  that  to  the  magnificent  building  that  we 
now  occupy  is  something,  as  I  have  remarked  before, 
beyond  the  best  dreams  of  any  member  of  the  Society 
of  those  days.  Those  who  constituted  the  Society  at 
that  time  worked  hard  for  its  benefit  and  for  its  collec- 
tions; and  many  things  were  done,  many  papers  were 
written,  that  would  be  worthy  of  consideration  today, 
and  were  a  great  addition  to  the  historic  lore  of  the 
state;  and  much  was  collected  in  the  way  of  books  and 
manuscripts  and  other  memorials  that  justly  have  their 
place  in  the  present  magnificent  building. 

And  there  is  one  thing  that  I  want  to  call  attention 
to,  and  with  which  I  shall  close,  and  that  is  the 
present  condition  of  the  Society.  The  impetus  that  is 
given  by  the  magnificent  building  that  has  been  be- 
stowed upon  us  by  Mr.  Tuck  has  created  a  condition 


43 

that  we  could  hardly  have  realized  before  it  came.  Gifts 
of  valuable  books  and  collections  are  beginning  to  flow 
in  upon  the  Society.  I  have  no  doubt  that,  while  not 
many  gifts  of  money  have  been  made  since  its  dedica- 
tion, many  will  come,  and  many  are  now  contemplated; 
and  as  to  books  that  have  been  given,  and  the  increase 
of  the  members  of  the  Society,  the  progress  is  marked 
and  very  praiseworthy.  We  have  entered  upon  an  era 
of  prosperity,  not  the  least  evidence  of  which  is  the  gen- 
eral interest  taken  in  the  Society,  as  your  presence 
shows,  and  the  great  increase  in  membership. 


LETTERS 

Letter  of  Ernest  Fox  Nichols,  President  of 
Dartmouth  College. 

Hanover,  N.  H.,  July  14,  1914. 
My  dear  General  Streeter: 

I  deeply  regret  my  inability  to  be  present  at  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  monument  to  the  memory  of  Reverend 
John  Tucke  on  Star  Island  Wednesday,  July  29,  and  the 
dedication  of  a  tablet  to  Captain  John  Smith  at  the  same 
place  and  on  the  same  day.  Before  the  kind  invitation 
of  the  New  Hampshire  Historical  Society  arrived  I  had 
already  accepted  an  invitation  from  the  government  of 
New  Zealand  to  meet  in  September  with  the  British 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  at  Welling- 
ton and  Christchurch.  This  makes  it  necessary  for  me 
to  leave  New  England  not  later  than  July  20. 

In  being  thus  unavoidably  absent  my  regret  is  deep- 
ened by  what  I  feel  to  be  the  historical  significance  of 
the  occasion.  Reverend  John  Tucke  and  Captain  John 
Smith  were  both  outstanding,  strong,  and  fearless  men, 
whose  lives  present  many  points  of  the  strongest  con- 
trast, among  these  the  occupations  of  war  and  peace. 

Reverend  John  Tucke,  putting  aside  all  other  ambi- 
tion, led  a  life  of  single  devotion  to  the  spiritual  and 
bodily  needs  of  a  small,  isolated,  and  all  but  forgotten 
community  of  rude  fishermen  and  their  families,  a  god- 
less and  a  sordid  people. 

Among  such  surroundings  he  lived  and  worked  for 
forty-one  years,  from  early  manhood  until  death.    Like 


46 

unto  the  Master  in  whose  service  his  life  was  spent,  he 
tended  and  healed  men's  bodies  as  he  tended  and  healed 
men's  souls,  and  he,  too,  found  disciples  among  fisher- 
men. 

These  picturesque  Isles  of  Shoals  were  discovered  by 
Captain  John  Smith;  their  people  were  converted  to 
the  Gospel  by  the  Reverend  John  Tucke.  Let  not  pos- 
terity forget  the  man  of  peace,  whose  was  the  larger, 
longer,  and  harder  task. 

Sincerely, 

Ernest  Fox  Nichols. 

The  Hon.  Frank  S.  Streeter, 

President  of  the  New  Hampshire  Historical  Society, 
Concord,  N.  H. 


Letter  of  Amos  Tuck  French. 

My  dear  Mr.  Kimball : 

Much  to  my  disappointment  and  regret  I  shall  not  be 
able  to  be  present  at  Star  Island  on  July  29th.  I  shall 
be  in  Europe  at  that  time,  and,  consequently,  I  must 
miss  taking  part  in  the  exercises  commemorative  of  my 
distant  kinsman,  the  Reverend  John  Tucke.  I  have 
long  felt  a  somewhat  active  interest  in  Mr.  Tucke  and 
his  ministry,  and  I  wish  that  we  knew  more  about  him 
and  his  life's  work  at  the  Shoals.  But  from  the  slight 
records  and  annals  that  have  come  down  to  us  I  am  sure 
he  was  no  ordinary  man,  and  that  our  dedication  today  is 
appropriate  and  deserved. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  recall  or  recount  the  inci- 
dents of  his  career,  but  I  may  be  permitted,  I  trust,  to 
throw  a  little  light  upon  one  incident  in  his  early  life. 
Chester  is  the  home  of  the  French  family,  therefore, 
what  I  relate  possesses  an  added  interest  to  me.     One 


47 

day,  while  searching  the  town  records,  I  came  across 
the  interesting  fact  that  Chester  called  Mr.  Tucke  to 
serve  her  in  the  ministry,  but  without  success.  The 
quaint  record  merely  tells  us  that  "y^  Rev.  John  Tucke 
refused  to  settle  with  y^  inhabitants  of  Chester  in  y*" 
work  of  y®  ministry"  in  1729,  having  previously  preached 
there  for  fourteen  Sundays  at  thirty  shillings  a  Sunday. 
What  the  reasons  were  for  the  young  minister  to  decline 
the  salary  of  £120,  and  prefer  Star  Island  to  the  attrac- 
tions of  Chester,  is  more  than  I  am  able  to  explain,  par- 
ticularly in  view  of  the  smaller  stipend  given  by  the 
fishermen.  Those  that  entertain  a  belief  in  hereditary 
characteristics  may  possibly  discover  in  that  example  of 
self-renunciation  and  disregard  of  money  a  trait  not 
wholly  wanting  in  the  generous  donor  of  yonder  shaft. 
We  who  wonder  why  it  was  that  the  youthful  minister, 
fresh  from  Harvard,  preferred  to  turn  his  face  seaward, 
may  find  some  explanation  in  the  answer  he  made  to 
the  good  citizens  of  Chester  who  had  voted  to  call  him. 
He  writes  as  of  October  7,  1729,  to  this  effect,  "Now 
these  are  to  signify  that  for  Weighty  Reasons  I  decline 
settling  there.  I  wish  you  a  happy  settlement  in  God's 
good  time.    Your  humble  servant,  Jn°  Tucke." 

With  deep  regret  at  my  absence  I  send  you  my  best 
wishes  for  fine  weather  and  a  good  time, 
Yours  sincerely, 

Amos  Tuck  French. 

To  Hon.  Benjamin  A.  Kimball, 
Concord,  New  Hampshire. 


48 

Letter  of  Dr.  Joseph  W.  Warren. 

State  Department  of  Health, 

Harrisburg,  Pa. 
July  25,  1914. 
My  dear  Mr.  Hammond: 

As  I  telegraphed  you  last  night,  my  part  of  the  work 
of  this  department  is  so  much  in  arrears  by  reason  of  the 
illness  and  death  of  my  predecessor  that,  after  all,  I  can- 
not get  away  to  come  to  the  dedication  of  the  Tucke 
monument.  I  should  have  notified  you  of  this  sooner 
had  the  situation  been  quite  clear,  and  particularly  had 
I  realized  that  this  was  to  be  such  an  elaborate  ceremony. 

No  one  who  knows  anything  of  the  life  of  the  Rev. 
John  Tucke  can  help  wishing  to  be  present  when  his 
memory  is  honored.  Little  did  he  realize  at  the  time 
of  his  death  in  1773  that  in  a  few  months  the  last  royal 
Governor  of  New  Hampshire,  as  a  refugee  from  his 
colony,  would  slip  up  to  Gosport  from  Boston  to  make 
his  last  proclamation.  Nor  could  he  have  guessed  that 
after  a  few  months  more  the  inhabitants  of  Gosport 
would  be  warned  to  leave  the  island  in  view  of  the 
exigencies  of  the  Revolution,  the  warning  being  brought 
by  Capt.  Titus  Salter,  who  as  a  boy,  some  fifty  years 
before,  had  played  about  the  point  near  the  Ram's 
Horn  still  known  as  Captain  Salter's  Point  in  memory 
of  his  father,  John  Salter.  Still  less  could  Mr.  Tucke 
have  dreamed  that  a  hundred  and  eighty-two  years 
after  his  ordination  a  goodly  company  would  be  brought 
together  by  steam  cars  and  trolley  cars,  and  then  carried 
over  the  sea  on  a  steamboat  to  honor  him,  and  to  recall 
the  enthusiasms  of  his  youth,  and  the  faithful  earnest- 
ness of  those  maturer  years  of  his  long  and  beneficent 
pastorate. 

The  career  of  Mr.  Tucke  at  Gosport  carries  with  it  a 
number  of  interesting  questions  concerning  the  Shoals 


49 

and  the  Shoalers.  The  whole  series  of  events  which  led 
to  his  coming  needs  to  be  cleared  up.  There  is  an 
extraordinary  lack  of  information  as  to  ministers  and 
churches  on  the  Shoals  from  about  1690  down  to  the 
establishment  of  a  new  church  in  the  last  week  of  June, 
1729,  or,  more  precisely,  to  the  advent  of  Mr,  Tucke  in 
the  autumn  of  1731,  the  year  before  his  ordination. 

We  know,  to  be  sure,  that  the  Rev.  Daniel  Greenleaf 
was  there  in  1705,  and  that  he  was  in  some  way  con- 
nected with  the  Tucke  family,  a  circumstance  which  may 
explain  the  interest  of  young  Tucke  in  the  Shoalers, 
although  the  relations  between  Hampton  and  the  islands 
were  always  intimate.  Few  readers  of  the  Wreck  of 
Ri vermouth  know  that  the  skipper  of  the  craft  on  that 
fateful  day,  of  which  the  historical  basis  has  been  freely 
transformed  in  the  poem,  was  an  old  Shoaler  who  had 
moved  to  Hampton  some  years  before.  The  record  of 
the  sale  of  his  property  on  the  Shoals  is  one  of  the  earliest 
deeds  we  have  relating  to  these  islands. 

Recently  a  parson  of  1702  has  been  discovered  by  the 
aid  of  an  old  court  record,  a  writ  issued  against  two  Star 
Islanders  who  had  sought  to  injure  him.  This  minister, 
the  Rev.  Samuel  Eburne,  so  far  as  I  know  has  never 
before  been  mentioned  as  belonging  to  the  Isles  of 
Shoals.  He  seems  to  have  had  relatives  in  Portsmouth, 
and  may  have  come  from  that  place.  I  have  not  yet 
had  time  to  trace  him. 

Then,  too,  the  career  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Moody,  who 
figures  in  most  historical  narratives  about  the  Isles  of 
Shoals,  is  wrapped  in  mystery.  There  is  evidently  a 
confusion  of  personalities.  Those  who  have  written 
about  him  tell  what  seems  at  first  glance  a  clear,  smooth 
stor^'-,  but  when  one  begins  to  look  for  the  facts  the 
thickest  of  thick  Shoals  fogs  enwraps  them. 

And  then — but  why  go  on?     One  might  talk  all  day 


50 

about  the  Shoalers,  down  to  those  few  last  lingering 
representatives  now  about  the  islands,  and  who  may  be 
traced  without  much  difficulty  back  to  the  first  parochial 
work  of  Mr.  Tucke.  The  more  I  learn  about  the 
Shoalers,  old  and  young,  early  or  late,  the  more  they 
interest  me.  They  lived  much  in  the  open,  and  the 
limelight  of  history  has  shone  sharply  on  the  seamy  side 
of  their  existence.  The  old  Shoalers  had  their  faults 
and  their  vices,  which,  of  course,  we  summer  Shoalers 
have  not.  They  had  their  virtues,  too,  but  these  have 
received  scant  attention  at  the  hands  of  those  who  have 
sought  material  for  a  story,  a  story  with  lots  of  ginger  in 
it  if  possible.  Compare  the  early  fishermen  of  the 
Shoals  with  the  same  social  group  in  Portsmouth,  New- 
castle, Kit'tery,  Marblehead,  much  closer  to  the  Shoals 
than  is  commonly  supposed,  and  so  on,  and  I  doubt  if 
you  find  that  they  suffer  by  the  comparison,  but  it  must 
be  done  with  an  eye  open  to  the  fundamentals,  and  not 
blinded  by  conventionalities. 

I  notice  that  in  some  of  the  newspaper  stories  of  the 
new  monument  I  am  credited  with  having  made  the 
suggestion  of  a  new  memorial  to  Rev.  Mr.  Tucke.  This 
version  of  the  affair  ought  to  be  corrected,  and  I  hope 
that  you  may  find  an  opportunity  to  do  it.  I  am  merely 
the  "kicker"  who  protested,  a  year  or  so  ago,  the 
acceptance  and  dedication  of  a  memorial  tablet  which 
was  not  only  improperly  placed  and  full  of  gross  in- 
accuracies, but  quite  unworthy  of  the  subject  and  the 
generous  donor.  Other  kickers— on  the  stage  and  in 
politics — have  achieved  distinction,  but  I  have  no  desire 
to  have  it  thrust  upon  me.  The  honor  of  making  the 
original  suggestion  which  has  led  to  the  erection  of  this 
monument  belongs  elsewhere,  not  to 

Yours  very  truly, 

Joseph  W.  Warren. 


51 

Letter  of  Frank  Warren  Hackett. 

Washington,  D.  C,  July  24,  1914. 
Otis  G.  Hammond, 

Superintendent  N.  H.  Historical  Society, 
Concord,  N.  H. 
Dear  Mr.  Hammond: 

In  an  earlier  letter  you  were  advised  how  great  was 
my  regret  that  I  am  to  be  detained  here,  and  to  be 
deprived  of  the  privilege  of  attending  the  Tucke  monu- 
ment exercises  at  the  Shoals  on  Wednesday  next. 

I  trust  that  the  day  will  be  fair,  and  that  the  attend- 
ance will  be  large. 

It  is  a  pleasure,  indeed,  for  us  of  the  Society  to  testify 
by  our  presence  how  profound  is  the  regard  in  which  we 
hold  our  fellow-member  and  most  liberal  benefactor, 
Edward  Tuck.  In  his  devotion  to  his  native  state,  to 
Dartmouth,  and  to  the  New  Hampshire  Historical 
Society,  we  see  that  Mr.  Tuck  has  exhibited  a  generous 
spirit  and  a  most  excellent  judgment. 

I  like  to  fancy  that  in  Edward  Tuck  (we  were  boys 
together  at  Exeter  Academy  in  1856)  are  disclosed 
certain  traits  that  characterized  his  early  kinsman 
whose  memory  we  now  strive  to  honor. 

The  Reverend  John  Tucke,  throughout  his  long  life 
at  the  Shoals,  gave  of  himself  unsparingly  for  the  good 
of  his  people.  The  simple  annals  of  a  godly  ministry 
became  long  ago  an  enduring  monument  of  the  heroic 
nature  of  the  man. 

Today  we  do  well  to  dedicate  this  noble  shaft  that 
shall  tell  anew  of  the  virtues  of  Parson  Tucke.  Coming 
generations  shall  heed  this  mute  witness  of  the  truth 
that  labor,  unselfishly  bestowed  for  the  material  and 
spiritual  welfare  of  one's  fellowmen,  leaves  behind  it  a 
record  that  the  world  ever  delights  to  honor. 
Yours  truly, 

Frank  W.  Hackett. 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH 


Address  of  Professor  Justin  Harvey  Smith,  Gov- 
ernor OF  THE  New  Hampshire  Society  of  Col- 
onial Wars,  July  29,  1914,  at  the  Dedication 
OF  A  Tablet  Placed  on  the  Monument  to 
Captain  John  Smith  by  That  Society. 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH 

1579-1631 

AFTER  PROVING  HIS  VALOR  IN 

EUROPE  AND  AMERICA  BECAME 

GOVERNOR  OF  VIRGINIA 

AND 

ADMIRAL  OF  NEW  ENGLAND 

WHILE  EXPLORING  THIS  COAST  IN  THE 

SPRING  OF  1614  MADE  THE  FIRST  RECORDED 

VISIT  TO  THESE  ISLANDS.  NAMED  BY  HIM 

SMITH'S  ISLES 


THIS  TABLET  IS  PLACED 

THREE  HUNDRED  YEARS  LATER  BY  THE 

SOCIETY  OF  COLONIAL  WARS 

IN  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  HAMPSHIRE 

1914 


CAPTAIN   JOHN   SMITH 

Three  hundred  and  fourteen  years  ago,  beside  a  wind- 
ing stream  in  a  small  pasture  surrounded  by  the  rather 
somber  woods  of  Lincolnshire,  England,  one  might  have 
seen  a  hut  built  of  the  branches  of  trees.  The  proprietor 
and  occupant  of  this  rustic  palace  was  a  vigorous  man 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  born  of  a  plain  but  good  family 
and  fairly  well  educated  for  the  time,  John  Smith  by 
name.  He  had  already  seen  more  of  the  world  than 
most  Englishmen  saw  in  a  lifetime,  for  he  had  visited 
London,  Orleans,  Paris,  Rouen,  Havre,  had  served  under 
brave  Henry  of  Navarre,  had  fought  in  Holland,  had 
been  ship-wrecked,  and  had  visited  Scotland.  With 
such  adventures  at  his  back  he  was  fully  quahfied  to  set 
up  in  London  as  a  roistering  blade ;  but  instead  of  doing 
that  he  built  himself  this  "Pavillion  of  boughes,"  as  he 
called  it,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  solitude  passed  his  time  in 
the  knightly  exercise  of  tilting  at  a  ring,  in  studying 
Machiavelli's  Art  of  War,  or  in  absorbing  the  maxims  of 
that  noblest  of  men,  Marcus  Aurelius.  Apparently  this 
young  fellow  was  of  no  ordinary  mold,  and  such  was 
indeed  the  case.  When  only  thirteen  years  old  he  had 
fixed  his  mind  upon  achieving  something  worthy  of  note. 
He  had  already  made  a  good  beginning,  and  was  now 
instructing  and  fortifying  himself  to  play  an  unusual 
role. 

From  this  seclusion  he  was  drawn  before  long  by  an 
Italian  gentleman,  whose  accomplished  horsemanship, 
familiarity  with  languages,  and  interesting  conversation 
made  him  an  agreeable  and  profitable  friend;  and  young 


58 

Smith  set  out  the  same  year  for  the  continent  again. 
His  aim  was  to  fight  the  Turk  in  behalf  of  Christian 
civilization;  and  after  visiting  on  his  way  many  places 
in  the  western  and  southern  parts  of  France,  he  took 
ship  at  Marseilles.  Holy  pilgrims  who  were  aboard, 
declaring  they  could  expect  no  good  weather  while  a 
heretic  was  among  them,  threw  him  into  the  sea,  but 
his  skill  in  swimming  and  a  fortunate  chance  preserved 
his  life;  and  after  continuing  his  travels  through  Italy 
and  Sicily  and  visiting  Alexandria,  Cyprus,  Rhodes, 
Crete,  and  Greece,  he  at  length  found  himself  at  Vienna, 
near  the  scene  of  hostilities.  The  Turks  were  swarming 
through  Hungary  in  fact,  as  he  had  been  told;  and,  eager 
to  be  at  them,  he  entered  the  service  of  the  Emperor. 

In  the  campaign  that  followed  he  took  an  active  part 
and  won  distinction ;  but  by  the  fortune  of  war  he  was  at 
length  wounded,  captured,  and  sold  as  a  slave.  After 
experiencing  both  remarkable  favor  and  remarkable 
cruelty  he  finally  escaped,  wandered  through  strange 
regions  in  Turkey,  Tartary,  and  Russia,  traversed  Hun- 
gary, Germany,  France,  and  Spain,  crossed  into  Africa, 
made  an  involuntary  cruise  on  a  man-of-war  that  was 
blown  to  sea,  helping  fight  a  brace  of  Spanish  vessels  in 
the  course  of  it,  and  finally,  about  four  years  after  leaving 
his  pavilion  of  boughs,  found  himself  again  in  England. 

The  next  scene  of  his  activities  was  Virginia,  and  what 
he  did  and  suffered  on  this  quest  is  a  part  of  our  history. 
How  cliques  and  mutinies  were  formed  against  him,  how 
a  gallows  was  erected  for  his  particular  use,  how  he 
spared  his  unjust  enemies  when  they  fell  into  his  power, 
how  often  he  faced  the  perils  of  disease,  starvation, 
savage  warfare  and  still  more  savage  tortures  is  well 
known.  He  was  the  life  of  the  struggling  settlement. 
"  It  is  not  a  work  for  everyone  to  plant  a  Colony,"  he  said 
once.     "  This  requireth  all  the  best  parts  of  Art,  Judg- 


59 

merit,  Courage,  Honesty,  Constancy,  Diligence,  and  Ex- 
perience, to  do  but  near  well;  and  there  is  a  great  differ- 
ence between  Saying  and  Doing."  And  this  one  may  see 
clearly  from  his  own  experience.  In  spite  of  everything, 
however,  he  saved  that  flickering  hope  from  extinction, 
and  probably  by  so  doing  accomplished  far  more  than  he 
has  been  credited  with.  Had  the  James  River  colony 
failed  before  August,  1609,  when  the  Third  Supply 
arrived,  there  might  have  been  no  commonwealth  of 
Virginia,  no  Jefferson  to  write  our  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, and  no  Washington  to  vindicate  it  on  the 
field ;  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  would  not  have  come  to  New 
England;  and  the  United  States  of  America,  as  we 
know  it,  might  never  have  existed. 

Under  his  guidance  the  colony  at  length  became  fairly 
prosperous;  but  early  in  October,  1609,  terribly  burned 
by  an  accidental  explosion  of  gunpowder,  he  found  it 
necessary  to  sail  for  England.  The  value  of  his  services 
then  showed  itself,  for  out  of  four  hundred  and  ninety 
persons  who  composed  the  settlement  the  month  he  left 
it,  all  but  sixty  were  dead  by  the  following  March. 

After  recovering  his  strength  he  took  up,  as  we  know, 
the  task  of  exploring  the  New  England  coast,  and  landed 
three  hundred  years  ago  on  these  islands.  And  finally 
returning  home  he  interested  himself  in  literary  work, 
giving  to  the  world,  besides  other  productions,  an  account 
of  his  travels  which  ranks,  as  a  piece  of  writing,  among 
the  very  best  English  books  of  that  class  published  in  his 
day,  a  practical  manual  of  seamanship  highly  valued  by 
men  in  that  calling,  and  the  "Generall  Historic  of  Vir- 
ginia, New  England  and  the  Summer  Isles."  Such  in 
brief  is  the  record  of  Captain  John  Smith,  and  it  seems 
to  be  the  record  of  a  singularly  brave,  enterprising,  tal- 
ented, and  high-minded  gentleman. 

The  testimony  of  those  qualified   to  judge  confirms 


6o 


this  opinion  abundantly.     A  fellow  soldier  wrote  in  this 
manner: 

"Thy  words  by  deeds  so  long  thou  hast  approv'd, 
Of  thousands  [that]  know  thee  not  thou  art  belov'd." 

One  who  had  fought  under  him  against  the  Turks 
paid  an  equal  tribute  to  his  valor  and  to  his  modesty: 

"Oft  thou  hast  led,  when  I  brought  up  the  Rere 

In  bloudy  wars,  where  thousands  have  beene  slaine. 
Then  give  me  leave  in  this  some  part  to  beare; 

And  as  thy  servant  here  to  reade  my  name. 
Tis  true,  long  time  thou  hast  my  Captaine  beene 

In  the  fierce  warres  of  Transilvania: 
Long  ere  that  thou  America  hadst  seene, 

Or  led  wast  captiv'd  in  Virginia ; 
Thou  that  to  passe  the  worlds  foure  parts  dost  deeme 

No  more  then  t'were  to  goe  to  bed  or  drinke, 
And  all  thou  yet  hast  done  thou  dost  esteeme 

As  nothing." 

His  epitaph  in  the  church  of  Saint  Sepulchre,  London, 
begins  with  these  words: 

"  Here  lies  one  conquer'd  that  hath  conquer'd  Kings, 
Subdu'd  large  Territories,  and  done  things 
Which  to  the  World  impossible  would  seeme, 
But  that  the  truth  is  held  in  more  esteeme." 

There  is,  moreover,  a  bit  of  prose  that  outshines  verse. 
Two  survivors  of  the  "starving  time"  that  followed  his 
retirement  from  Virginia  described  his  life  in  the  colony 
as  follows:  "What  shall  I  sa^^?  But  thus  we  lost  him  that 
in  all  his  proceedings  made  justice  his  first  guide  and 
experience  his  second ;  ever  hating  baseness,  sloth,  pride, 
and  indignity  more  than  any  dangers;  that  never  allowed 
more  for  himself  than  his  souldlers  with  him;  that  upon 
no  danger  would  send  them  where  he  would  not  lead  them 
himself;  that  would  never  see  us  want  what  he  either 


6i 


had,  or  could  by  any  means  get  us;  that  would  rather 
want  than  borrow,  or  starve  than  not  pay;  that  loved 
actions  more  than  words,  and  hated  falsehood  and  cozen- 
age [more]  than  death ;  whose  adventures  were  our  lives, 
and  whose  loss  our  death.  " 

Still  more  to  the  point  are  the  things  that  Captain 
Smith  said  himself.  "And  truly,"  he  once  wrote, 
"there  is  no  pleasure  comparable  to  that  of  a  generous 
spirit;  as  good  employment  in  noble  actions,  especially 
amongst  Turks,  Heathens  and  Infidels;  to  see  daily  new 
countries,  people,  fashions,  governments,  stratagems; 
to  relieve  the  oppressed,  comfort  his  friends,  pass  mis- 
eries, subdue  enemies,  adventure  upon  any  feasible 
danger  for  GOD  and  Country.  It  is  true,  it  is  a  happy 
thing  to  be  born  to  strength,  wealth,  and  honour;  but 
that  which  is  got  by  prowess  and  magnanimity  is  the 
truest  lustre ;  and  those  can  the  best  distinguish  Content 
that  have  escaped  most  honourable  dangers;  as  if,  out 
of  every  extremity,  he  found  himself  new  born  to  a  new 
life,  to  learn  how  to  amend  and  maintain  his  Age."  To 
comment  on  such  words  would  be  to  gild  the  sun. 

For  suggestions  about  applying  his  principles  take 
this  passage: 

"Then,  who  would  live  at  home  idly  (or  thinke  in  himselfe 
any  worth  to  live)  onely  to  eate,  drink,  and  sleepe,  and  so  die? 
Or  by  consuming  that  carelesly  his  friends  got  worthily?  Or 
by  using  that  m.iserably  that  maintained  vertue  honestly?  Or 
for  being  descended  nobly,  pine  with  the  vaine  vaunt  of  great 
kindred  in  penurie?  Or  (to  maintaine  a  silly  shewe  of  brav- 
ery) toyle  out  thy  heart,  soule,  and  time  basely  by  shifts, 
tricks,  cards,  and  dice?  Or  by  relating  newes  of  others  actions 
sharke  here  or  there  for  a  dinner  or  supper;  deceive  thy  friends 
by  faire  promises  and  dissimulation  in  borrowing  where  thou 
never  intendest  to  pay;  offend  the  lawes,  surfeit  with  excesse, 
burden  thy  Country,  abuse  thy  selfe,  despaire  in  want,  and 
then  couzen  thy  kindred,  yea  even  thine  owne  brother,  and 


62 


wish  thy  parents  death  (I  will  not  say  damnation)  to  have 
their  estates?  though  thou  seest  what  honours  and  rewards 
the  world  yet  hath  for  them  [who]  will  seeke  them  and  worthily 
deserve  them." 

Treating  of  a  broader  subject  he  used  the  following 
language : 

"Consider:  What  were  the  beginnings  and  endings  of  the 
Monarkies  of  the  Chaldeans,  the  Syrians,  the  Grecians,  and 
Romanes  but  this  one  rule;  What  was  it  they  would  not  doe 
for  the  good  of  the  commonwealth  or  their  Mother-citie?  For 
example:  Rome,  What  made  her  such  a  Monarchesse  but 
onely  the  adventures  of  her  youth,  not  in  riots  at  home  but 
in  dangers  abroade?  and  the  justice  and  judgement  out  of  their 
experience  when  they  grewe  aged.  What  was  their  ruine  and 
hurt  but  this;  The  excesse  of  idlenesse,  the  fondnesse  of 
Parents,  the  want  of  experience  in  Magistrates,  the  admira- 
tion of  their  undeserved  honours,  the  contempt  of  true  merit, 
their  unjust  jealosies,  their  politicke  incredulities,  their  hypo- 
criticall  seeming  goodnesse,  and  their  deeds  of  secret  lewd- 
nesse?  Fnially,  in  fine,  growing  onely  formall  temporists,  all 
that  their  predecessors  got  in  many  years  they  lost  in  few 
dales.  Those  by  their  pain  and  vertues  became  Lords  of  the 
world;  they  by  their  ease  and  vices  became  slaves  of  their 
servants." 

One  more  quotation  will  suffice.  It  is  brief,  but  it 
reveals  the  man  clearly:  "I  thank  God  I  never  under- 
tooke  anything  yet  [wherein]  any  could  tax  me  of  care- 
lessnesse  or  dishonesty." 

And  yet  this  brave  and  honorable  soldier  has  been 
charged  with  braggadocio  and  falsehood  by  certain 
historical  sceptics.  Of  this  we  do  not  complain.  His- 
torical scepticism  is  wholesome  and  even  necessary, 
and  we  only  ask  due  attention  to  the  facts.  The  sub- 
stantial points  in  his  narratives  that  have  been  chal- 
lenged are  two.     He  states  that  during  the  campaign  in 


63 

Transylvania  he  slew  three  Turkish  champions  and  cut 
off  their  heads.  Had  he  told  of  meeting  them  all  at  the 
same  time  one  might  indeed  feel  astonished;  but  the 
combats  occurred  on  different  days,  and  he  gives  a  con- 
siderable part  of  the  glory  to  his  horse.  In  view  of 
his  well-attested  valor  and  skill  there  is  nothing  improb- 
able in  the  account,  and  the  evidence  in  support  of  it  is 
conclusive.  For  one  thing,  he  named  three  islands  off 
Cape  Ann  the  Three  Turks'  Heads  long  before  he  pub- 
lished an  account  of  his  exploit;  and  for  another, 
Sigismund  Bathori,  Duke  of  Transylvania,  granted  him, 
in  a  document  of  which  we  have  the  text,  the  right  to 
use  three  Turks'  heads  as  his  arms  on  the  express  ground 
of  the  achievement  in  question.  This  grant,  moreover, 
was  duly  recorded  at  the  Heralds'  College  in  London,  and 
we  have  the  precise  language  of  the  entry.  Proof 
more  satisfactory  there  could  not  be. 

The  second  accusation  rests  essentially  upon  the  fact 
that  his  being  rescued  by  Pocahontas,  mentioned  by  him 
in  his  Generall  Historic  of  Virginia,  dated  1624,  was  not 
alluded  to  in  his  True  Relation  written  sixteen  years 
earlier.  Now,  the  latter  document  was  a  letter  hastily 
written  for  particular  purposes  while  a  ship  was  preparing 
to  set  sail,  and  the  author  had  a  perfect  right  to  mention 
or  omit  whatever  he  chose.  This  is  not  all,  however. 
The  True  Relation  was  published,  as  we  have  it,  by  an 
anonymous  editor,  who  obtained  it  somehow  at  second 
or  third  hand,  and  admitted  in  the  preface  that  he  did 
not  print  the  whole  of  it.  Under  such  circumstances  the 
non-appearance  of  the  Pocahontas  episode  in  this  paper 
cannot  be  considered  evidence  of  any  weight  against  a 
carefully  prepared  historical  narrative  published  by  the 
author  himself. 

Something  more,  too,  is  worth  saying.  Captain 
Smith    never    laid    any    stress    upon     the    Pocahontas 


64 

affair.  He  gave  it  only  a  few  lines  when  he  did  recount 
it.  Doubtless  he  regarded  it  as  merely  one  incident  in 
the  day's  work,  one  hazard  in  a  life  made  up  of  perils; 
and  other  good  reasons  could  be  suggested  for  his  omit- 
ting it,  if  he  really  did  omit  it,  from  the  True  Relation. 
Enemies  of  his  who  were  in  a  position  to  know  the  facts 
never  questioned  the  story.  Without  it  Smith's  ex- 
traordinary release  from  the  Indians,  who  killed  his 
companions  without  mercy,  is  inexplicable.  Inexpli- 
cable also  is  Powhatan's  despatching  this  young  girl  as 
ambassador  to  Smith  to  obtain  the  freedom  of  Indian 
prisoners ;  and  other  undoubted  events  would  be  equally 
hard  to  explain.  In  short,  no  serious  difficulty  is  con- 
nected with  the  story,  while  to  reject  it  would  involve 
us  in  several  deep  embarrassments. 

Curiously  enough,  when  honest  but  imperfectly  in- 
formed scholarship  had  thus  laid  a  mistaken  foundation 
for  impeaching  Captain  Smith's  veracity,  ill  fortune 
cast  him  into  the  hands  of  an  amiable  but  unreflecting 
humorist,  who  indulged  himself  and  his  readers  with 
thoughtless  witticisms  at  the  Captain's  expense.  In 
Holland,  we  are  told,  for  example,  "  He  hacked  and  hewed 
away  at  his  fellow  men,  all  in  the  way  of  business,  for 
three  or  four  years."  This  not  only  ignores  the  fact 
that  in  Smith's  day  fighting  was  considered  the  noblest 
of  occupations,  but  overlooks  his  repentance  for  having 
slain  fellow-Christians,  and  his  determination — carried 
out  at  immense  expense  to  himself — to  use  his  arms 
against  the  enemies  of  our  religion  and  civilization.  In 
this  respect  he  stood  head  and  shoulders  above  his  time. 

The  Captain  mentioned  a  nobleman  whom  he  named 
Mercury;  and  this,  our  humorist  says,  has  "given  a 
mythological  air  to  Smith's  narration,  and  aided  to 
transfer  it  to  the  region  of  romance."  But  this  noble- 
man has  been  found  to  be  Philippe  de  Lorraine,  Duke  of 


65 

Mercoeur;  and  "Mercury"  was  simply  an  attempt  to 
anglicize  the  name.  In  like  manner  it  is  hinted  that 
an  enemy  called  "Bonny  Mulgro"  was  a  creature  of  the 
imagination;  but  this  enemy  was  a  Turk,  and  the  best 
that  our  author  could  do  was  to  spell  the  name  as  no 
doubt  it  sounded.  Referring  to  the  account  of  the 
Three  Turks  the  critic  says,  "We  approach  it  with  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  It  loses  nothing  in  Smith's 
narration.  In  point  of  fact,  however,  the  account 
was  taken  by  the  Captain  from  an  Italian  author  trans- 
lated by  Samuel  Purchas."  "Our  hero  never  stirs  with- 
out encountering  a  romantic  adventure,"  says  the  ami- 
able humorist,  because  for  one  reason  or  another  Smith 
was  aided  on  a  few  occasions  by  persons  of  the  other  sex. 
The  suggestion  Is  that  he  was  always  on  the  lookout  for 
romantic  adventures ;  but,  had  he  been,  so  brave  and  well- 
favored  a  soldier,  with  such  thrilling  tales  to  tell,  could 
have  had  more  of  them  In  one  season  at  London  than  he 
seems  to  have  encountered  In  his  life.  The  swamps  of 
Virginia  and  the  rock-bound  coast  of  New  England  were 
not  promising  places  for  such  a  quest.  His  description 
of  the  Crim-Tatars,  we  are  assured,  "belongs  to  the 
marvels  of  Mandevllle  and  other  wide-eyed  travellers"; 
but  a  writer  in  the  latest  edition  of  the  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica  states  that  it  was  careful  and  accurate.  "We 
know  nothing  of  his  habits, "  the  critic  continues,  plainly 
suggesting  that  they  were  bad ;  but  a  fellow-soldier  wrote: 

"  I  never  knew  a  Warrier  yet  but  thee 
From  wine.  Tobacco,  debts,  dice,  oaths,  so  free." 

Happily,  only  a  few  years  after  our  humorist  made 
merry  over  his  imaginary  braggart,  Smith's  complete 
works,  a  volume  of  about  one  thousand  pages,  were 
placed  before  the  world  by  a  competent  scholar.  Pro- 
fessor Arber,  who  tells  us  that  he  scrutinized  and  com- 
pared every  line.     "Inasmuch,"  says  Arber,  "as  where- 


66 


ever  we  can  check  Smith  we  find  him  both  modest  and 
accurate,  we  are  led  to  think  him  so  where  no  such  check 
is  possible;"  and  he  sums  up  his  opinion  thus:  "For  our 
own  part,  beginning  with  doubtfulness  and  wariness, 
we  have  gradually  come  to  the  unhesitating  conviction 
not  only  of  Smith's  truthfulness,  but  also  that,  in  regard 
to  all  personal  matters,  he  systematically  understates 
rather  than  exaggerates  anything  he  did."  This  judg- 
ment appears  to  be  entirely  sound.  A  critical,  scientific 
historian  the  Captain  was  not.  Critical,  scientific 
history  was  unknown  in  his  day.  He  was  a  man  of  the 
world;  he  wrote  with  a  free  hand  and  largely  from  mem- 
ory; but  substantially  what  he  stated  was  veracious,  and 
the  man  himself  was  such  as  we  love  to  honor.  As 
Arber  says,  the  "unmerited  cloud  of  detraction  and  dis- 
credit .  .  .  passes  away  forever ";  and  Arber  is  en- 
dorsed in  turn  by  the  editors  of  the  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,  who  commissioned  him  to  write  the  article 
on  Captain  John  Smith  for  their  latest  edition. 

One  cannot  help  asking  now  what  rewards  were  meted 
out  for  such  a  character  and  such  a  life,  and  one  has  to 
admit  that  his  recompense,  measured  by  the  ordinary 
standards,  was  but  small.  For  one  thing  he  seems  to 
have  been  pursued,  like  most  men  of  elevated  aims  and 
independent  minds,  by  depreciation  and  slander  in  his 
own  time.  It  was  easier  and  more  agreeable  to  mis- 
construe and  misrepresent  than  to  recognize  his  superi- 
ority. 

"Malignant  Times!     What  can  be  said  or  done 
But  shall  be  censur'd  and  traduc't  by  some!" 

exclaimed  one  of  his  friends.  In  his  principal  aim,  too, 
he  was  unsuccessful,  for  he  could  not  obtain  the  necessary 
support  for  his  colonization  ideas.  In  moments  of 
depression,  overcome  by  the  bulk  and  weight  of  the 
commonplace  prosperity  that  he  saw  about  him  and  the 


67 

high  honors  often  gained  by  undeserving  men,  he  re- 
garded his  own  career  as  a  failure,  perhaps;  and  in  a 
touching  poem  that  he  wrote  or  adopted  he  compared 
himself  to  a  stranded  vessel,  beached  and  abandoned: 

/  "Aloofe,  aloofe,  and  come  no  neare, 

the  dangers  doe  appeare; 
Which  if  my  ruine  had  not  beene 

you  had  not  scene: 
I  onely  lie  upon  this  shelfe 

to  be  a  marke  to  all 

which  on  the  same  might  fall. 
That  none  may  perish  but  my  selfe." 

Gifted  with  remarkable  abilities,  remarkable  energy, 
and  remarkable  ambition  to  achieve,  after  extraordinary 
exertions  and  sufferings  he  found  himself  in  fact  neither 
wealthy  nor  duly  honored. 

But  in  the  soberest  estimation  of  values  he  received 
an  adequate  reward.  To  be  misunderstood  by  inferiors 
attested  his  merit.  To  be  denounced  by  mean  men  was 
of  itself  a  distinction.  The  conviction  that  he  was 
pursuing  true  glory,  the  satisfaction  of  deserving  it,  the 
possession  of  wide  knowledge  and  rich  experience,  and 
the  consciousness  of  doing  the  world  service— though  the 
service  that  he  did  was  greater  than  he  knew — were  no 
slight  compensations  for  what  he  missed ;  and  many  single 
hours  in  his  career  doubtless  outweighed  lifetimes  passed 
in  wriggling  along  through  easy  pleasures  and  winning 
trivial  successes  by  the  practice  of  trivial  arts. 

Such  an  hour  was  that  when  he  realized,  following  the 
white  plume  of  Navarre,  that  he,  too,  was  a  soldier. 
Such  an  hour  it  was  when  he  triumphed  over  the  three 
Turks  as  the  champion  of  Christendom.  Another  such 
hour  came  when  he  made  it  clear,  in  spite  of  the  small- 
ness,  timidity,  and  jealousy  about  him,  that  he  was  the 
salvation  of  the  precious  little  colony  in  Virginia.     And 


68 


another  such  hour  fell  into  his  golden  cup  on  this  very 
spot.  One  cannot  doubt  it,  for  it  was  no  grace  or  lux- 
uriance that  induced  him  to  honor  these  islands  with  his 
name.  Indeed,  with  but  a  little  imagination,  aided  by 
the  surroundings,  we  can  see  him  step  ashore  here  from 
his  open  boat,  and  climb  to  the  summit  of  the  isle;  see 
him  scan,  with  the  wary  but  unflinching  eye  of  a  Ulysses, 
the  shore  of  that  New  England  which  he  named  and  loved, 
as  it  seemed  now  to  come  forward  in  a  blaze  of  sunshine, 
and  now  to  recede  under  the  shadow  of  a  passing  cloud; 
see  him  bare  his  ample  forehead  and  gaze  upon  the  great- 
ness of  sea  and  sky  with  a  spirit  equally  vast  and  equally 
free;  and  then  see  him  retire  calmly  into  a  realm  where 
every  man  of  kingly  blood  has  a  throne,  and  where  the 
voice  of  detraction  and  slander  cannot  penetrate,  the 
realm  of  thought,  whose  lofty  gates  had  opened  to  him 
in  the  solitude  of  Willoughby.  Though  a  doer  of  deeds 
he  was,  like  all  true  men  of  action,  essentially  a  man  of 
contemplation;  and  where  could  he  find  a  nobler  oppor- 
tunity to  think  than  on  a  spot  like  this? 

Most  proper  is  it,  therefore,  to  dedicate,  and  to  dedi- 
cate on  Smith's  Isles,  a  sign  to  his  memory.  Like  him 
our  memorial  is  unpretentious,  but,  like  his  fame,  strong 
as  the  strength  of  granite  and  of  bronze;  and  here  may 
it  stand  through  all  generations,  paying  due  honor  to 
Captain  John  Smith  as  the  navigator,  the  soldier,  the 
traveller,  the  explorer,  the  colonizer,  the  ruler  and  the 
author;  strong,  bold,  far-seeing,  broad-minded,  magnan- 
imous, resourceful,  and  true;  ambitious  to  serve,  lavish 
in  self-sacrifice,  tireless  when  action  was  required,  patient 
when  patience,  fearless  when  courage;  one  of  the  finest 
types  of  the  race  to  which  he  belonged. 


=^^S  BOOK  IS 


DUE 


■MI.V.  OF  CA 


■Ueo.icciijion  oi    a  inernoiTiax 


to  Reverend  Jolin  Tuoke,  ^702-1773 


/A'^^v^.ftWt^V' — M 


^ov  27  isMa^y^-^^Qv  2f:io43 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


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